A new research study, delivered by our Research Unit, will aim to reduce how many people become victims of domestic abuse by helping policymakers and commissioners to better understand the behaviour of perpetrators.

Funded by the Home Office, our research will look at the backgrounds and experiences of perpetrators to explore what the early warning signs are, and whether there are common patterns and predictors that trigger such behaviour and abuse. There will also be consideration about what makes this form of abuse worsen, and conversations will be conducted with individuals about how their future relationships could be impacted by the behavioural triggers that have led them to commit domestic abuse in the past. The learning from the qualitative research will help to build a refreshed knowledge base that will aim to point out new, effective domestic abuse interventions.

Over their lifetime, one in four women, and one in six men, are victims of domestic abuse. Two women die at the hands of a partner or ex-partner every week, and every month the same happens to a man.

Understanding why people offend is essential if we are to reduce the devastating impact these crimes have on victims’ lives.

At Interventions Alliance, our justice and social care business division, already supports over 19,100 offenders through its probation services, a number of whom are perpetrators of this type of abuse. The service delivers programmes and workforce learning and development that helps prevent crime and tackles the complex and challenging behaviours in the criminal justice system, including domestic abuse.

Dedicated to transforming people’s lives and supporting communities, our Research Unit focuses on finding ways to improve social care, crime prevention, rehabilitation and recovery work. In the coming months, we will conduct in-depth interviews with repeat domestic abuse perpetrators to learn more about their behaviours and life experiences.

The evidence our Research Unit plans to collect will form the basis of a report to inform future government crime prevention strategies and solutions to end domestic abuse. The study will conclude later this year.

Suki Binning, Executive Director of Justice and Social Care and our lead Social Worker, commented:

Domestic abuse has devastating, long-term effects on victims, both physically and psychologically. The impact of the pandemic has also seen an increase in cases. Supporting victims of domestic abuse must always be a priority, but to prevent or reduce harm, we must first understand the behaviours that lead to perpetrators committing this crime and how to best address them.

Our society can never be complacent about challenging the behaviours that lead to this form of abuse.

This Home Office study will aim to provide meaningful insights that can be used to build future interventions that prevent domestic abuse before it happens. With the very welcome Domestic Abuse Bill, it is right that this work starts now so that it can make a full contribution to ensuring the new law is a success. We are delighted to be working with the Home Office to help build a new evidence base.