‘Could have been prevented’: 71 per cent of femicide perpetrators known to justice system

Of the 235 Aussie men sentenced for the murder of a current or former partner in the last decade, almost three in four had one thing in common.

In the last decade, 235 men were sentenced for the murder of a current or ex female partner in Australia; and almost three in four had one thing in common.

Of these killers, 71 per cent had at least two interactions with the criminal justice system before murdering their victim.

That’s according to a four year analysis of sentencing comments released by a team of researchers from Melbourne’s Monash University and the UK’s Liverpool University.

Put plainly, these were not men for whom violence came out of nowhere. These were not men who were strangers to the systems put in place to keep victims safe.

Which means, says lead author and violence against women academic Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon, “that many of these killings could have been prevented”.

“The majority of perpetrators featured in the 235 sentencing judgments we examined had known histories of violence and in many cases, different points of the justice system had interacted with the perpetrator prior to their use of lethal violence,” she told news.com.au.

“In recent months, there have been calls from across the community for a greater focus on perpetrators, and this study absolutely supports those calls.”

The study comes as Australia reckons with an epidemic of gendered violence. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Of the Australian killers, 68 per cent had previously engaged with police, 65 per cent had “prior engagement in a legal setting”, and 65 per cent had prior convictions for a criminal offence.

Meanwhile, nearly one in five perpetrators were on bail or parole when they committed the murder – “a particularly significant finding”, the Securing Women’s Lives authors noted, and a hot-button topic, particularly in NSW after the murder of Forbes woman Molly Ticehurst in April.

Roughly the same number (18 per cent) were on protection orders. About the equivalent (19 per cent) had previously been on orders. Thirty-seven of the killers had recorded prior breaches of safety orders.

“In the cases we examined, numerous perpetrators were known to the police and the courts,” Professor Fitz-Gibbon said.

She said there was “a need to ensure that justice professionals are equipped with the specialist training and evidence-based risk assessment tools needed to effectively identify and manage risk at each point of intervention”.

“We need all Australian state and territory jurisdictions to embed effective perpetrator risk identification, assessment and management practices,” she said.

Sixty-eight per cent of the killers had previously engaged with police. Picture: Blake Foden

Another “incredibly important piece that has been relatively under-explored in research on men’s use of fatal violence”, the report said, is that one-third of killers had experienced family violence themselves.

The findings come as Australia reckons with a so-called “epidemic” of gendered violence.

Only a “whole of system effort”, Prof Fitz-Gibbon said, can prevent the escalation of intimate partner violence and femicide in Australia.

“We need to ensure that perpetrator risk is made visible at the points of the system within which they interact, and that importantly, we intervene at every opportunity possible to minimise risk of future harm and risk escalation.”

Originally published as ‘Could have been prevented’: 71 per cent of femicide perpetrators known to justice system