Citation

Rowlands J. Violence Against Women 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778012211068064

PMID

34939469

Abstract

In England and Wales, Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) examine domestic abuse-related deaths to identify lessons to be learned. However, their emergence as a policy initiative has been little considered. To address this gap, a thematic discourse analysis of policy documents to 2011 was undertaken, examining the justification for, and conceptualization of, DHRs before their implementation. It is argued that DHRs were constructed as a taken-for-granted good, through which multi-agency partners would generate learning while the (gendered) subject was silenced. Attending to aspirations, contradictions, and tensions in the emergence of DHRs has implications for their understanding and operationalization in the present.

Language: en

Keywords

domestic abuse; domestic homicide review; fatality review; policy analysis