Domestic Abuse Related 
Death Reviews (DARDR)

• a person to whom he or she was related, or with whom he or she was or had been in an intimate personal relationship; or,

• a member of the same household as himself or herself.

DARDRs were introduced by section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (DVCA 2004) and came into force on 13 April 2011. Their purpose is not to reinvestigate the death or apportion blame, but to:

 

• establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide, regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims;

• identify clearly what those lessons are, both within and between agencies, how they will be acted on, within what timescales, and what is expected to change as a result;

• apply these lessons to service responses including changes to policies and procedures as appropriate; and to prevent domestic violence homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence victims and their children, through improved intra and inter-agency working.

Home Office Guidance (2016) states that ‘publication of overview reports and executive summaries will take place following agreement from the Home Office Quality Assurance Panel and should be published on the local Community Safety Partnership website.’

For more information on DHRs please visit: www.gov.uk/government/collections/domestic-homicide-review