Crime and justice research Domestic and family violence

The Summary of criminal justice reforms relating to domestic and family violence, 2015–early 2020 report offers a summary of criminal justice reforms in Queensland related to domestic and family violence following the release of the Not Now, Not Ever report in 2015, until early 2020. It provides additional context to other research undertaken by the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office about domestic and family violence in Queensland.

The Applications for domestic violence orders in Queensland report explores applications made for domestic violence orders (DVOs) in Queensland between 2008–09 and 2017–18. Analyses presented in this report show that:

• increases in the number and rate of DVO applications coincided with criminal justice reform activities
• increases in DVO applications were mainly driven by applications lodged by the police, and that most police applications resulted in a protection order being made by the court
• women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were overrepresented as the aggrieved (the person listed as requiring protection), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were overrepresented as the respondent (the person listed as using domestic or family violence)
• increased applications with an older person as applicant and younger person as respondent indicated a possible increase in elder abuse.

The Breaches of domestic violence orders in Queensland report describes research examining breaches of domestic violence orders (DVOs) in Queensland between 2008–09 and 2017–18. The research found:

• an increase in the proportion of DVOs being breached
• breaches were more common among protection orders than temporary protection orders, but temporary protection orders were breached more quickly
• men and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were most commonly reported as the respondent (the person using domestic or family violence) on DVOs being breached.

The research described in the Cross applications for domestic violence orders in Queensland report examined instances where two adults in a relationship applied for a domestic violence order against each other. The research showed:

• changes in the number and rate of cross applications coincided with changes in legislation and system reform
• most cross applications involved a woman and a man, and people in intimate (rather than family) relationships
• the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on cross applications
• cross applications involving the police were more likely to result in a protection order being made by the court than those progressed privately
• a higher prevalence of applications being dismissed by the courts among cross applications lodged privately by men.

The Domestic and family violence calls for police service report discusses the increasing demand being placed on the Queensland Police Service in response to domestic and family violence (DFV) in the community. In 2017–18, compared with 2012–13:

• the number of calls for police service regarding DFV matters increased
• more police time was being spent on DFV matters per DFV incident
• higher growth in recorded DFV incidents was seen in the most socially and economically disadvantaged locations than that observed in the most socially and economically advantaged locations.