Targeting Fixated Individuals to Prevent Intimate Partner Homicide: Proposing the Domestic Violence Threat Assessment Centre

Abstract

Intimate partner homicide (IPH) is one of the most common forms of homicide in Australia. Despite rates falling over time, it remains the most common homicide threat for Australian women, who are the victims of three-quarters of all IPH incidents.<br>

Recent research has viewed some IPH perpetrators as being motivated by fixation and grievances. These fixated perpetrators hold an intense preoccupation with an individual, which may be driven by a grievance, during the acute phases of risk. In this paper we propose a trial of the Domestic Violence Threat Assessment Centre (DVTAC). Modelled on the Fixated Threat Assessment Centres, the DVTAC could offer a multi-agency approach to information gathering, monitoring and intervention among high-risk domestic violence offenders during periods of acute risk.