Fifth Report Data: January 2009 to December 2015 ‘Our daughter Helen is a statistic in these pages. Understanding why, has saved others.’ David White Ngā mate aituā o tātou Ka tangihia e tātou i tēnei wā Haere, haere, haere. The dead, the afflicted, both yours and ours We lament for them at this time Farewell, farewell, farewell. Citation: Family Violence Death Review Committee. 2017. Fifth Report Data: January 2009 to December 2015. Wellington: Family Violence Death Review Committee. Published in June 2017 by the Health Quality & Safety Commission, PO Box 25496, Wellington 6146, New Zealand ISBN 978-0-908345-60-1 (Print) ISBN 978-0-908345-61-8 (Online) This document is available on the Health Quality & Safety Commission’s website: www.hqsc.govt.nz For information on this report, please contact [email protected] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Family Violence Death Review Committee is grateful to: • the Mortality Review Committee Secretariat based at the Health Quality & Safety Commission, particularly: – Rachel Smith, Specialist, Family Violence Death Review Committee – Joanna Minster, Senior Policy Analyst, Family Violence Death Review Committee – Kiri Rikihana, Acting Group Manager Mortality Review Committee Secretariat and Kaiwhakahaere Te Whai Oranga – Nikolai Minko, Principal Data Scientist, Health Quality Evaluation • Pauline Gulliver, Research Fellow, School of Population Health, University of Auckland • Dr John Little, Consultant Psychiatrist, Capital & Coast District Health Board • the advisors to the Family Violence Death Review Committee. The Family Violence Death Review Committee also thanks the people who have reviewed and provided feedback on drafts of this report. FAMILY VIOLENCE DEATH REVIEW COMMITTEE FIFTH REPORT DATA: JANUARY 2009 TO DECEMBER 2015 1 FOREWORD The Health Quality & Safety Commission (the Commission) welcomes the Fifth Report Data: January 2009 to December 2015 from the Family Violence Death Review Committee (the Committee). This companion report presents data on family violence deaths in Aotearoa New Zealand during 2009–15 and contextualises the thinking about family violence discussed in the Committee’s Fifth Report. This report emphasises the Committee’s call to shift how the sector thinks about and responds to family violence. Preventing deaths from family violence requires an integrated family violence system in which agencies, organisations and practitioners are oriented to work together with families and whānau to provide safe, effective and culturally responsive support. The over-representation of Māori among family violence deceased and offenders, as well as those from the most deprived neighbourhoods, illustrates that family violence is not distributed equally. For Māori, multiple intersecting disadvantages, both contemporary and historical, continue to contribute to the violence within whānau seen today. For those experiencing family violence and living in the most deprived neighbourhoods, including many Māori whānau, the health sector’s continued focus on improving equity in the quality and safety of services for all populations is paramount. The Commission commends the Committee’s contribution to the family violence sector work. This report, together with the Fifth Report, provide critical analysis and direction for guiding system reform and preventing deaths from family violence. These reports are important for informing the integrated system focus of the Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence. Family violence causes harm that can traverse generations. This report reminds us that there are many child survivors of family violence who have lost a sibling and/or a parent, and some of these children were present when their family member was killed. To prevent intergenerational patterns of harm, we hope the conceptual shifts and approaches summarised in this report continue to inform the work of practitioners and organisations working to address and ultimately prevent family violence. It is through collective responsibility and action across the workforce and our communities that we can address the complexities of family violence, and enable safety and wellbeing for families and whānau. Professor Alan Merry ONZM FRSNZ Chair, Health Quality & Safety Commission June 2017 2 CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION This companion report documents the devastation of family violence – the lives lost and the enduring burden of harm afflicted upon the living. These lives and deaths are a testament to why we must transform our ways of addressing family violence and violence within whānau. History shows we cannot be effective in preventing violence through a series of system tweaks; we must be prepared to make some transformational leaps. We know the people in this report lived in communities, they all accessed health care services and their children went to schools. To be preventative we need to consider new configurations of services and ways of responding to family violence and violence within whānau. Every day, many people are working with people experiencing or perpetrating violence. There are multiple opportunities to wrap support around child and adult victims, their families and whānau, as well as to work with fathers, men and their communities in ways that respectfully challenge them to take responsibility for their behaviour and to be the parent their family and whānau needs. We need a workforce capability lift, so we can maximise these opportunities for change. Kaupapa Māori approaches are an essential part of this reorientation. The size of the social problem means this work cannot remain the role of the few – New Zealand Police, Oranga Tamariki and family violence non-government organisations – it must become the responsibility of the many. What is required is whole-of-family and -whānau, whole-of-organisation and whole-of- system responsiveness. The challenge is large, but so is our collective workforce. The Committee commends Minister Adams and Minister Tolley for their leadership of the Ministerial Group on Family Violence and Sexual Violence, demonstrated on 7 June 2017 with the launch of the Family Violence, Sexual Violence and Violence within Whānau: Workforce Capability Framework June 2017 (the Framework). The Framework sets out a vision and expectation of excellence – a workforce capable of responding safely and respectfully to family violence, sexual violence and violence in whānau. As Interim Chair of the Committee, I wish to recognise the exceptional leadership and dedication of the previous Chair, Professor Julia Tolmie. She has worked tirelessly to ensure the Committee’s learning from reviewing deaths positively influences reform in the sector. It is a privilege to have the role of kaitiakitanga of the Committee and to work with such inspiring people. I would also like to acknowledge the many practitioners who continue to respond with compassion and empathy to all those affected by family violence and violence within whānau. To all the family and whānau members whose loved ones are detailed in this report: we know family violence is preventable. Now is a critical time in Aotearoa New Zealand to forge our collective commitment to the changes needed in our society – changes that will enable prevention to become a reality for this generation of mokopuna and for generations to come. Dr Jacqueline Short Chair, Family Violence Death Review Committee June 2017 FAMILY VIOLENCE DEATH REVIEW COMMITTEE FIFTH REPORT DATA: JANUARY 2009 TO DECEMBER 2015 3 CONTENTS Acknowledgements 1 Foreword 2 Chair’s Introduction 3 List of tables 6 List of figures 8 Executive Summary 9 Chapter 1: Introduction 14 1.1 Overview of this report 14 1.2 Background information 14 1.3 Family violence deaths from 2009 to 2015 18 1.4 The whakapapa of violence within whānau 21 Chapter 2: Intimate partner violence (IPV) 27 2.1 Introduction: concepts and classification systems 28 2.2 Patterns in IPV death events when analysed in the context of the abuse history 31 2.3 Patterns of harm visible in IPV death events 44 2.4 Criminal justice outcomes for offenders in IPV deaths 56 2.5 Children impacted by IPV death events 59 Chapter 3: Child abuse and neglect (CAN) 61 3.1 CAN concepts and classification 62 3.2 CAN deaths from 2009 to 2015 67 3.3 Ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status of CAN deceased and offenders 74 3.4 Criminal justice outcomes for offenders in CAN deaths 79 3.5 Child survivors impacted by CAN death events 80 Chapter 4: Intrafamilial violence (IFV) 82 4.1 IFV classification 82 4.2 IFV deaths from 2009 to 2015 84 4.3 Age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status of IFV deceased and offenders 93 4.4 Criminal justice outcomes for offenders in IFV deaths 97 4 Appendix 1: Additional data tables 98 Appendix 2: Glossary of terms 106 Appendix 3: FVDRC members 111 Appendix 4: Classification of abuse history 112 Appendix 5: Integrated safety system 122 Appendix 6: Position brief, February 2017 124 References 125 FAMILY VIOLENCE DEATH REVIEW COMMITTEE FIFTH REPORT DATA: JANUARY 2009 TO DECEMBER 2015 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Homicides and related offences and family violence deaths, New Zealand, 2009–15 18 Table 2: Family violence deceased by type, New Zealand, 2009–15 19 Table 3: Roles of offenders in IPV death events by abuse history, New Zealand, 2009–15 32 Table 4: Police-recorded IPV history of deceased and offenders involved in IPV death events, New Zealand, 2009–15 34 Table 5: Separation status for female primary victims who were deceased and offenders in IPV deaths, New Zealand, 2009–15 38 Table 6: