In England and Wales, Domestic Homicide Reviews – being renamed as Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews – have been routinely undertaken since 2011. Despite their potential as a tool for learning from and bringing about change following domestic abuse-related deaths, there remain numerous concerns about review. In particular, questions continue to be raised about the extent to which reviews tell a victim’s story and the quality of learning, the experience stakeholders (including family), the robustness of oversight, and evidence of impact. Drawing from a recently published book, including findings from 40 interviews and the analysis of 60 published review reports, this paper takes stock of reviews to date and, in light of the above concerns, considers recent reform efforts by the UK government. I argue that both the potential for, and also concerns about, reviews reflect a tension between the victim’s story, which is necessarily the trigger for and anchoring to a review, and the way that reviews have been established as a system and delivered as a process and product. Centring procedural and outcome justice is one way that opportunities for reform could be enhanced, and I concluded by considering implications for practice, policy and research.
About the speaker
Dr James Rowlands is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at Durham University. In 2025, he published his first monograph with Routledge entitled ‘The Potential and Peril of Reviewing Domestic Abuse Related Deaths’. James’ research explores domestic abuse-related deaths, with a particular focus on fatality review systems and how these are established, operate and if they bring about change.
If you would like to attend this free online event, please follow the link below to book a place.
https://forms.office.com/e/NESfr38e7z
This is Seminar 12 of the 2025/26 Centre for Gender and Violence Research Seminar Series. Please see the 2026 Events page for further events in this series.