Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDR), previously known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), are multi-agency reviews of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by:
• a person to whom he or she was related, or with whom he or she was or had been in an intimate personal relationship; or
• a member of the same household as himself or herself.
• This includes where a victim took their own life (suicide) and the circumstances give rise to concern, for example it emerges that there was coercive controlling behaviour in the relationship.
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDR) were formerly called Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) but changed to DARDR to better recognise deaths from domestic abuse related suspected suicides.
Community Safety Partnerships are responsible for managing the Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDR) process. In Sefton, this is the Safer Sefton Together Partnership.
What is the purpose of DARDR?
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews are undertaken to improve responses to domestic abuse and aim to prevent what happened to the person that died, happening to others.
They will try to ensure that public bodies like social services, councils, police and other community-based organisations understand what happened that led to the death of the person and identify where responses to the situation could be improved.
From this, the public bodies hope to learn all the right lessons including those which impact how they work together.
These reviews will not seek to lay blame but to consider what happened and what could have been done differently.
They will also recommend actions to improve responses to domestic abuse situations in the future.
Further Reading