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This paper is based on a survey of service provision for women experiencing domestic violence and who have additional complex mental health or substance use needs. Postal questionnaires were sent to domestic violence organisations, community mental health teams, mental health NHS trusts and substance use services. The views of women survivors of domestic violence were also sought. The survey, undertaken by Women's Aid, identifies some shortcomings in existing provision and makes recommendations for future development of services. More refuge provision is needed which can accommodate women with mental health and substance use needs, and their children.Mental health professionals and those working in drug and alcohol services also need training in domestic violence, to enable them to respond more appropriately to the needs of abused women and to work effectively in partnership with refuge organisations.

The international women's movement has always focused on discrimination against women, but only in the past few decades have activists paid special attention to domestic violence. In post-communist Europe, it took even longer but the Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Slovene governments eventually reacted to domestic and global pressure and established new definitions and norms dealing with domestic violence. Analyzing the process of norm development on domestic violence in Central Europe can direct us toward determining to what extent political and economic processes and decisions in Europe are driving globalization, or are being driven by globalization.

In Sri Lanka women make up the majority of the country's population. However, there is a concern that many women are subjected to any form of violence at home which is known as family violence, or in Sri Lanka which is identified as domestic violence. As such domestic violence is one of the topics that have gained attention in Sri Lanka under the major topic of gender-based violence (GBV). Sri Lanka also imposed prolonged lockdowns, travel/mobility restrictions, social distancing, and other health measures/restrictions to control the speedy spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence, the life of women was unfavorably impacted. A increase in the number of domestic violence cases against women during public emergencies – here referred to COVID-19 – is one of such negative impacts. Therefore, this study intends to examine the adequacy of the existing laws of prevention of domestic violence in Sri Lanka and investigate the appropriateness of the available judicial mechanism including its preparedness in achieving the proper protection support for the women victims of domestic violence during public emergencies. To reach that goal this doctrinal research study heavily engages in a descriptive and detailed analysis of legal rules found in primary sources such as domestic statutes, international treaties, statistics, government circulars and regulations and case law, etc., in respect of the issue of domestic violence against women during public emergencies with specific reference to Sri Lanka. Secondary resources such as print and electronic text material are also utilized in the completion of this study.

Definitions of domestic homicide shape data collection and prevention efforts and, consequentially, our understanding of these crimes. This chapter explores issues related to defining domestic homicide in the context of our work with the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP). We discuss selected case studies to demonstrate what cases are included and excluded in this work and to highlight the importance of understanding our narrower, project-based definition in relation to the larger context of domestic violence-related homicides and deaths. By considering how victims and perpetrators are identified when defining domestic violence, we illustrate how undercounting of domestic homicide may occur, contributing to the “dark figure” of domestic homicide. Furthermore, we argue that cases from certain groups, such as Indigenous women in Canada, may be systematically excluded from definitions of domestic homicide. In reflecting on these issues and cases, our aim is to advance calls for consistency and transparency in definitions to allow for stronger research across jurisdictions (Fairbairn, Jaffe, & Dawson, 2017; Jaffe et al., 2017), as well as to support efforts of initiatives such as domestic violence death review committees (DVDRCs) in their work to prevent domestic homicides.

The international women's movement has always focused on discrimination against women, but only in the past few decades have activists been focusing on violence against women, and within this framework, domestic violence. Global feminist activism found common ground in protecting women from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. This framework traveled to Eastern Europe with the advent of regime changes there. In post-communist Europe, it took only a decade and a half for the Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Slovene governments to react to domestic and global pressures and establish new definitions and policies regarding domestic violence. However, the feminist NGOs’ definitions and policy recommendations met with limited success. Feminist-inspired norms, such as specific domestic violence courts and distancing ordinances, diffused to a mediocre level of half-hearted official responses in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This middle-of-the-road approach attempted to de-gender and thus to de-politicize feminists’ fundamental gender-sensitive claims. A norm diffusion to reach the middle ground took place through a complex set of interactions that involved various types of political actors ranging from international governmental organizations, such as the UN and the EU, governments, international and local NGOs. Analyzing the process of these multiple-level and manifold interactions sheds light on the partially deterritorialized nature of globalization. The development of norms and their difffnousion regarding domestic violence policy also inform us about how democratic processes, efforts to achieve gender equality, and the global context interact in CEE.

Domestic violence is a longstanding criminal behaviour although society has only recognised it as such in relatively recent times. The emerging issue of domestic violence has brought about changes in the way it is perceived, and how it is managed by different agencies including the response of the police. This paper highlights the effects of domestic violence on its victims, the reasons why people appear to remain in abusive relationships, and the initiatives taken by police forces to address this major crime area.

The prevalence of domestic violence in Nigeria may be described as epidemic. To address this scourge, several pieces of legislation have been enacted in the past decade at state and federal levels in Nigeria. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the emerging legislation on domestic violence. This paper thus examines the contents of these laws in a bid to determine the potential of these laws to prevent domestic violence, deter perpetrators from further incidents, punish perpetrators, compensate survivors and provide them with the necessary interventions for their rehabilitation.

The approach adopted is a content analysis of the provisions of the legislation, using salient parameters that have been drawn from documented best practices, specifically the key components for framing of domestic violence legislation around the world.

The author finds that while there is significant attempt in extant legislation to ensure that women are protected within domestic relationships, there are still gaps. Further, the protections are uneven across the states. In addition, there are systemic and contextual challenges that hamper the effectiveness of existing legislation in Nigeria in providing the necessary protections to women.

This study analyses the provisions of some of the legislation currently in place to protect persons from domestic violence. The impact, potential effect and overall utility of these pieces of legislation continue to require examination.

This article presents the results of a study involving 261 domestic violence researchers representing a variety of professional disciplines. The purpose of this study was to identify researchers' perceptions of the connections between research and practice in domestic violence. The study builds on previous literature that identified a gap between research and practice in domestic violence. Through a factor analysis of the Domestic Violence Research‐Practice Perceptions Scales: Researcher Form, a new instrument developed for this study, a four‐factor conceptual framework for understanding the domestic violence research‐practice gap was identified. The four factors identified were labelled as follows: (a) personal practice orientation, (b) beliefs about practitioners, (c) beliefs about researchers, and (d) beliefs about a research‐practice gap. Researchers were shown to differ in their scores on the first factor subscale based on whether they had prior experience of providing services to clients affected by domestic violence and whether domestic violence is the primary focus of their research agenda. Implications of the findings for integrating research and practice in domestic violence are then discussed.

The COVID-19 outbreak has significant psychological effects because of reduced support system and social quarantine, making women the worst-hit population of shadow pandemic, i.e. domestic violence. While food shortages, unemployment and increased domestic-work burdens are the immediate effects of the lockdown, women at home have to bear its far-reaching impacts in the long term in the form of domestic abuse, making the study of the psychological impact of domestic violence against women imperative. This paper aims to identify the factors and causes responsible for domestic violence and its psychological impacts on women in different aspects. This paper further focuses on the reasons behind an escalation in psychological violence against women.

This paper is based on extrapolating data from various journal articles, Indian Government reports, newspaper articles and other printed materials that are recent, relevant and discuss domestic violence and mental stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers use Indian National Commission for Women’s (NCW) data on complaints received regarding violence against women and domestic abuse in the year 2020 and 15 journal articles that discuss domestic violence against women during the COVID-19 period in different countries to discuss social inequalities and power relations impact on women’ mental health.

The findings suggest that economic instability during the pandemic and social and cultural norms of India ignited psychological abuse against women during the pandemic. The number of monthly complaints of dowry death, dowry harassment and protection of women against domestic violence reflect on increased registered complaints in the postlockdown period in the year 2020. The number of monthly complaints received by the NCW from January 2020 to December 2020 in India represents that WhatsApp chat is a powerful tool for reporting domestic violence.

The pandemic lockdown has an adverse psychological impact on women, making them suffer from posttraumatic symptoms, substance abuse, panic attacks, depressions, hallucinations, eating disorders, self-harm, etc. This paper strives to reflect upon mitigation strategies to curb domestic violence in India.

An article in the NIJ Journal (Websdale, 2003) notes that domestic violence can provoke suicide. The 2003 Massachusetts Domestic Violence Homicide Report (Lauby et al, 2006) notes that suicide can be attributed to domestic violence incidents. Utah Domestic Violence Related Deaths 2006 (Utah Domestic Violence Council, 2006) notes that the majority of domestic violence‐related suicides are not covered in their report. The report Domestic Violence Fatalities (2005) (Utah Department of Health, 2006) notes that there were 44 suicides and 21 homicide domestic violence‐related deaths in Utah in 2005. Using data from the Surveillance for Violent Deaths ‐ National Violent Death Reporting System, 16 States, 2005 (Karch et al, 2008), it is possible to extrapolate that as many as 7,832 male and 1,958 domestic violence‐related suicides occur annually in the US. When domestic violence‐related suicides are combined with domestic violence homicides, the total numbers of domestic violence‐related deaths are higher for males than females. This paper recommends that to understand the broad scope and tragic impact of domestic violence, further research is needed concerning domestic violence‐related suicide.