Conference Agenda

This presentation will use Real Time Suicide Surveillance statistics from one local authority area in England to highlight that approximately a third of all suicides may be among people impacted by domestic violence (either as a victim or a perpetrator). It will include descriptive statistics to understand more about the people dying in domestic violence related suicides including age, gender, ethnicity and other factors such as whether they also had financial difficulties or misused substances.

It will also introduce evidence that many people dying by suicide are known to the Police as both a victim and a perpetrator of domestic violence. The session will explore whether these are primarily perpetrators making malicious and false accusations of being a victim, or whether these individuals are primarily victims who are using violent methods to resist and defend themselves and their children.

The session will conclude by hearing the voices of domestic abuse victims who have attempted to take their own lives about their motivations for their actions, as well as sharing recommendations about what interventions may work to keep people alive.

The association between domestic abuse and suicide remains a ‘known unknown’. However, one of the mechanisms that can inform our understanding of domestic abuse-related suicide is statutory fatality reviews. Introduced in England and Wales in 2011, Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) form part of this review landscape. DHRs are conducted to learn lessons to prevent both domestic violence and domestic abuse related deaths. Distinct from criminal investigations which focus on the prosecution of a perpetrator, DHRs involve examining the circumstances surrounding a death, with a view to learning lessons that can improve future safeguarding and service provision. In 2016, reflecting growing concerns about the links between domestic abuse and suicidality, the Home Office extended the statutory guidance underpinning these reviews bringing domestic abuse-related (suspected) suicides into the statutory remit of DHRs.

Through qualitative analysis of published Domestic Homicide Reviews into cases of (suspected) suicide and inquest audio recordings in cases of domestic abuse-related self-inflicted deaths, this paper presents findings that seek to address existing evidence gaps with significant implications for both the field of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) from a practitioner perspective and for sociological approaches to suicide and femicide. This project used a multi-disciplinary approach, bringing together theory, practice, and evidence from across the DVA sector, suicide prevention, critical suicide studies, suicidology and sociology. In doing so, it aims to makes a significant contribution to practice (prevention, risk assessment, and intervention) and theory (conceptualisation and explanation) of suicide and DVA.

This paper will present a new theoretical framework for understanding suicidality related to domestic abuse alongside preliminary findings from a mixed methods doctoral study entitled ‘Domestic Abuse-Related Suicide through the Lens of Social and Structural (in)Justices: Perspectives from Lived Experience’.  

Suicides occurring following domestic abuse have been strongly associated with increased levels of coercive control, a history of mental ill-health and substance abuse, as well as post-separation abuse (Monckton-Smith, 2022; Hoeger et al., 2024). Additionally, findings from analyses of fatality reviews suggest that structural injustice may play a part in these deaths (Munro, 2024), as many deceased victims had been repeatedly let down from services they had sought support from through systemic failures (Munro, Dangar & Andrade, 2025). The mixed-methods studies comprised in this thesis seek to better understand the lived realities of experiencing justice systems in the context of coercive control, and the impact this may have on suicidality, by giving victim-survivors the opportunity to voice their own narrative perspectives.  

In the first instance, a survey of domestic abuse victim-survivors including psychometric questionnaires will empirically test the links between suicidality, coercive control and negative experiences of justice systems. These themes will then be explored in further depth in a smaller number of narrative interviews. Overall, this doctorate aims to critically re-think current gendered narratives of domestic abuse-related suicidality as a pathologised phenomenon which is met with a siloed and overly medicalised response and argue for the need to address suicidality related to domestic abuse through principles of social justice that brings forward the lived experience of victim-survivors of domestic abuse. 

Suicide has been reported as the leading cause of death among domestic abuse-related fatalities since 2023, with data from the Domestic Homicide Project indicating that nine in ten individuals who died by suicide following a recorded domestic abuse incident were known to services. This stark reality highlights a critical gap in safeguarding responses and demands a rethinking of how responding services conceptualise safety. Police services play a central role in responding to domestic abuse and protecting the public, however, their focus on preventing immediate harm often means concerns about mental health and the risk of suicide are directed elsewhere. Emerging research demonstrates the prevalence of suicide following experiences of domestic abuse, placing frontline responders in a unique position to implement measures to prevent further harm and deaths by suicide. Despite this, the role of policing in suicide prevention within domestic abuse contexts remains underexplored. This study seeks to reframe understandings of police responsibility by examining how survivors perceive current responses and what they believe would help them to remain safe from suicide. Using a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews are being conducted with individuals who have experienced domestic abuse, exploring their views on suicide safety and the responsibilities of police in safeguarding against suicide. Thematic analysis will reveal insights into the care and interventions survivors require, as well as their perspectives on the role of police in protecting them from suicide. These insights will inform the development of improved police responses, contribute to best practice and policy regarding suicide safety, and deepen understanding of how individuals experiencing abuse can remain safe. 

There is significant empirical evidence of the relationship between domestic abuse and suicide, with the annual number of deaths resulting from ‘suspected victim suicide following domestic abuse’ exceeding those from intimate partner homicide in England and Wales for the second year in a row.  In recognition of this link, the term domestic abuse-induced suicide (DAIS) is the chosen term for this project as an analytical category for victim suicides following intimate partner domestic abuse. 

In January 2024, the UK government rejected a petition to create a new statutory offence to respond to DAIS. Their rejection contended that the overlapping offences of coercive and controlling behaviour under the Serious Crime Act 2015, encouraging suicide under the Suicide Act 1961, and the common law offence of unlawful act manslaughter (UAM) are sufficient. UAM is the only offence cited that holds perpetrators criminally liable for their victim’s death. However, UAM is rarely prosecuted in the DAIS context due to the doctrinal difficulty in proving that the abuse caused the victim’s suicide, as suicide is generally considered a free and informed decision that breaks the chain of causation between the abuse and a victim’s death. 

In response to the general lack of prosecutions in the DAIS context, this paper presents preliminary findings from qualitative interviews with three participant groups: Prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service, Domestic Homicide Review Advocates, and Bereaved Family Members. Using thematic analysis, the insights will be twofold: first, evaluating the practical effectiveness of the existing offences cited by the UK Government and second, considering the potential superiority of a new statutory offence. These interviews will inform the doctoral project’s future conclusion on the best criminal response to DAIS and provide new insights into the criminal prevention of suicide.