Disrupting Trajectories Leading to Domestic Violence

Research into male-on-female domestic violence traditionally focuses on its after-effects, with an emphasis on how victims can keep themselves safe or on the men who have been criminally charged in such incidents. This approach puts the responsibility on the victim to try and protect herself while offering support to the perpetrator only after the violence has occurred to prevent recidivism. This policy brief takes a different approach to understanding points of intervention that might prevent domestic violence from occurring in the first place. Using a robust 10-year dataset supplied by Calgary Police Service, the authors explored a trajectory of criminal behaviour and police interactions prior to an eventual charge for a criminal act involving domestic violence in 2019. While preliminary, the data analysis reported in this brief finds a distinct trajectory of increased criminal behaviour among male perpetrators leading up to a charge in 2019. In fact, the data shows a rising number of police interventions related to complaints involving possible acts of domestic violence during that 10-year period. Very few men in this sample were unknown to police prior to the charge in 2019. Domestic violence frequently makes headlines, and when femicide is committed, it is often accompanied by announcements of public vigils to be held for the victimized woman along with demands for an end to intimate partner violence. But rarely is the question raised, why do men continue to be the major perpetrators of this terrible violent act? And if there is always a passion and commitment to provide support to victims, where is the same passion and commitment to developing policies and strategies to work with men at risk of perpetrating violence and before they commit the offence of domestic violence? The approach of examining male perpetration trajectories analyzed in this policy brief, can help inform legislation, policies, and programs that can not only stop male violence before it starts, but subsequently reduce the suffering of women and their families.