Detection Avoidance Research Articles

Rates and Features of Detection Avoidance in Intimate Partner Femicide in Australia

Despite known links with intimate partner femicide (IPF), rates of detection avoidance (DA) in IPF are unknown. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken using data compiled by the Domestic Violence Death Review Team (DVDRT). DA was evidenced in 43% of 100 IPF cases examined from Queensland Australia, between 2006 and 2019. DA IPFs were perpetrated by males between the ages of 36 and 45 years, in urban locations and more often involved unknown causes of death and escalating violence prior to the homicide. Offenders had histories of abuse, coercive control and other criminal behavior. Themes uncovered include DA offenders using isolation, discrediting the victim and monitoring her prior to the IPF as both abuse and DA. Offenders planned the homicide and DA, falsified the narrative of the death, and obstructed the police investigation. Results imply DA is common and impactful, even when revealed. Implications for practitioners include recognizing high rates of DA in IPF cases.

Detection avoidance and mis/unclassified, unsolved homicides in Australia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to begin to explore whether and how the use of detection avoidance (DA) by offenders leads to a so called “dark figure” of unsolved homicides that have been mis/unclassified.Design/methodology/approachAustralian Coronial data and inquest findings are used to examine how DA impacts on determining homicide, and cases remaining unsolved.FindingsResults show DA behaviours perpetrated by offenders may be catalysed by other challenges, and may lead to homicides being mis/unclassified and unsolved. Findings indicate there is a small dark figure of mis/unclassified homicides which eventually become known and investigated as homicides in Australia. The number of unsolved homicides may be greater than official data reveals, due to some cases remaining mis/unclassified.Research limitations/implicationsResults are likely to underestimate the prevalence of mis/unclassified homicides due to the invisibility of cases and the difficulty establishing rules to include suspected but unproven homicides. The variable nature and impact of DA behaviours also limits results, along with jurisdictional differences in Coronial data.Practical implicationsThis discussion explains DA behaviours impact on determining and investigating homicide and the necessity of future research.Originality/valueMis/unclassified homicides as unsolved homicides have not been discussed previously. This discussion is the first to conceptualise mis/unclassified homicides as a dark figure of unsolved cases, and the first to attempt to gauge the problem.