Dozens of men have five or more domestic violence victims. We must shine a spotlight in their faces

Over the past fortnight the killing of women, allegedly by men, has been front and centre following the Bondi killings and numerous women’s deaths. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, speaking following the alleged killing of a third woman in Ballarat in 2024, described men’s violence against women as a crisis.

Among the alarming statistics of nearly 100,000 domestic violence offences recorded annually in Victoria alone, there lies a particular cohort of high-harm, high-risk offenders, dozens of whom have more than five separate victims each. These men, in particular, need the spotlight shone in their faces.

Dozens of men have more than five separate domestic violence victims each.Credit: iStock

Despite significant improvements following the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence, Victorian Crimes Statistics Agency data paints a clear picture of the persistent scale of the problem.

In Victoria alone between July 2022 and June 2023, 25 individuals were charged with the homicide of a family member. This was a decrease from the 36 family-violence-related homicides recorded between 2021/22 and 31 in 2020/21 but as the events of the past fortnight have demonstrated so starkly – progress is never linear and serious harm, including deaths, from family violence persist at unacceptable levels in Victoria.

Family violence homicides represent the fatal tip of the iceberg. Between July 2022 and June 2023, Victoria Police recorded 93,115 family violence incidents. This equates to, on average, 255 family violence incidents each day, approximately 11 incidents per hour. This total number includes 23,378 family violence assault and related offences, 5647 family-violence-related sexual offences, and 7422 stalking, harassment and threatening behaviours.

When highlighting such rates it is imperative to keep in mind that family violence is significantly underreported. It is frightening to ponder what the true prevalence rate would look like.

Police data clearly shows us that this is a problem of men’s violence. Between July 2022 and June 2023 Victoria Police recorded an alleged male perpetrator in 75 per cent of family violence incidents involving an alleged adult offender.

Of those alleged adult male offenders, the majority were between 30 and 39 years old (31 per cent), with 18 to 24-year-old men identified as the alleged offender in 12 per cent of these recorded incidents. In just under 2 per cent of cases the alleged adult male offender was over 70 years old.

In contrast, females are far more likely to be recorded as the victim in family violence incidents in Victoria. Eighty-eight per cent of recorded family violence incidents with a male perpetrator involve a female, most likely a current or former intimate partner. This is a crisis of men’s violence against women.

In efforts to improve responses to family violence, and to reduce harm through early intervention, there is a need to properly understand risk and trajectories of harm. Examining police data for recorded incidents confirms the focus on already well-established risk factors.

After attending a family incident police are required to complete a L17 – the Victoria Police Risk Assessment and Management Report. Data recorded on these forms provides insights into the known risks present in family violence incidents. Of the 93,115 family violence incidents recorded between July 2022 and June 2023, in:

• 37 per cent of incidents the alleged perpetrator exhibited controlling and/or jealous behaviour,
• 32 per cent of incidents separation was recent or imminent,
• 8 per cent of incidents the alleged perpetrator had choked, strangled, or suffocated the victim,
• 4 per cent of incidents involving threat of, or harm to a pet, and
• 3.5 per cent of incidents the offender was violent towards a pregnant family member.

Strangulation has long been identified as one of the highest risk factors of intimate partner femicide as has coercive and controlling behaviours and relationship separation. Understanding what constitutes high-risk behaviours should inform decisions made by judicial officers, including in bail-related decisions.

Recent events have raised significant questions about the effectiveness of the justice system and its ability to keep victim-survivors safe. Questions remain about the effectiveness of intervention orders to prevent repeat victimisation and escalation of violence. Between July 2022 and June 2023 Victoria Police recorded 57,097 family violence incidents involving a breach of an order. This represents on average over 150 breaches each day, and at least six breaches each hour.

In efforts to reduce harm there is a solid argument for why we must focus efforts on high-harm, high-risk offenders. In the 12-months between July 2022 and June 2023, there were 2503 alleged perpetrators that had five or more family-violence-related incidents recorded against them. In 2023 alone, there were 22 alleged perpetrators who had six or more different affected family members, and 66 alleged perpetrators that had five different affected family members. Such data highlights sharply why a focus on perpetrators is long overdue.

All too often perpetrators are cast in the shadows in responses to family violence. While improving victim-survivor safety should always be the priority, to achieve this there is a need to cast a spotlight on the perpetrator. Particularly those who commit multiple offences against the same victim, and those serial offenders who abuse different women.

Serial family violence offending should be treated as seriously as any other form of repeated criminality. Targeting police efforts to address continuous perpetration is an effective way to reduce overall harm. In recent years Victoria and NSW have used targeted police operations to focus on detaining perpetrators who have breached intervention orders. Some jurisdictions have also introduced offences for persistent family violence offending.

Understanding what works in addressing continual perpetration is critically needed alongside the need for communities to better understand that this is not about men’s violence towards one woman on one occasion but rather about the need for effective responses to serial and persistent offending.

Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon is a professor (practice), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University; Honorary Professorial Fellow, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne; and principal consultant, SEQURE Consulting.

Dr Christine Nixon is a Vice Chancellors Professorial Fellow at Monash University and the former chief commissioner of Victoria Police.

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