To help reduce victimisation, safeguarding practices in England and Wales are becoming more multi-agency, with Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH) being a contemporary example of such an approach. MASH aims to reduce victimisation by identifying and managing vulnerability at the earliest opportunity. This is achieved through the co-location of safeguarding agencies, joint decision making and the co-ordination of interventions. Previous research has indicated that the demand placed upon MASH often outweighs available resources, questioning the extent to which MASH effectively safeguards vulnerable people at the earliest opportunity. Whilst existing literature has focused upon the characteristics of MASH referrals, alongside referral processes, rates of repeat referrals have been overlooked. This paper aims to bridge this gap by exploring the number of repeat referrals made over a two-month period to a MASH location in the north-west of England (n = 2,134). By investigating repeat referrals, reasons why some individuals are susceptible to being victimised on multiple occasions are identified. The paper concludes that whilst MASH has taken a step towards identifying and managing victimisation, practices and processes need to be reviewed if MASH is to proactively prevent repeat victimisation.
AllenCWildeB (2013) Birmingham Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) review. Report, Birmingham City Council, March.
2.
BabcockRLDePrinceAP (2013) Factors contributing to ongoing intimate partner abuse: Childhood betrayal trauma and dependence on one’s perpetrator. Journal of Interpersonal Violence28(7): 1385–1402.
3.
BartlettJDKotakeCFauthR, et al. (2017) Intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect: Do maltreatment type, perpetrator, and substantiation status matter?Child Abuse and Neglect63: 84–94.
4.
Ben-DavidS (2000) Needed: Victim’s victimology. In: FridayPCKirchhoffGF (eds) Victimology at the Transition from the 20th to the 21st century. Monchengladbach: Shaker Verlag and World Society of Victimology Publications, 55–72.
5.
BlandMArielB (2015) Targeting escalation in reported domestic abuse evidence from 36,000 callouts. International Criminal Justice Review25(1): 30–53.
6.
CohenLEFelsonM (1979) Social change and crime rate trends: A routine activity approach. American Sociological Review44(4): 588–608.
DunneJFFinalayF (2016) G625 Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub: A new way of working. Archives of Disease in Childhood101(1): A369–A370.
9.
FlynnCVan DykeNGelbK (2017) Intergenerational offending: The case for exploring resistance. Probation Journal64(2): 146–154.
10.
GoldenSAstonHDurbinB and Local Government Association (2011) Devon Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub: Case-study report. NFER. Available at: https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/LGMX01/LGMX01.pdf(accessed 11 September 2017).
11.
Graham-KevanNBrooksMWillanVJ, et al. (2015) Repeat victimisation, retraumatisation and victim vulnerability. The Open Criminology Journal8: 36–48.
Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) (2014) Abuse of Vulnerable Adults in England: 2012–13, Final Report, Experimental Statistics. London: Health and Social Care Information Centre.
HMIC (2015) Increasingly Everyone’s Business: A Progress Report on the Police Response to Domestic Abuse. London: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
16.
HoltS (2017) The impact of exposure to domestic abuse on children and young people. In: DolanPFrostN (eds) The Routledge Handbook of Global Child Welfare. Oxford: Taylor and Francis, 211–225.
JeyasinghamD (2017) Soft, small, malleable, and slow: Corporeal form and movement in social workers’ and police officers’ talk about practice in a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub. Child and Family Social Work22(4): 1456–1463.
19.
LloydSFarrellGPeaseK (1994) Preventing Repeated Domestic Violence: A Demonstration Project on Merseyside (Crime Prevention Unit Paper 49). London: Home Office.
20.
ManthorpeJSamsiK (2013) ‘Inherently risky?’: Personal budgets for people with dementia and the risks of financial abuse: Findings from an interview-based study with adult safeguarding coordinators. British Journal of Social Work43(5): 889–903.
21.
MeinckFCluverLDBoyesME, et al. (2015) Risk and protective factors for physical and emotional abuse victimisation amongst vulnerable children in South Africa. Child Abuse Review24(3): 182–197.
22.
Messman-MooreTLLongPJ (2003) The role of childhood sexual abuse sequelae in the sexual revictimization of women: An empirical review and theoretical reformulation. Clinical Psychology Review23(4): 537–571.
23.
MorganABoxallHBrownR (2018) Targeting repeat domestic violence: Assessing short-term risk of reoffending. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice552: 1–15.
24.
PeaseKIgnatansDBattyL (2018) Whatever happened to repeat victimisation?Crime Prevention and Community Safety20(4): 256–267.
25.
SagovskyAJohnsonSD (2007) When does repeat burglary victimisation occur?Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology40(1): 1–26.
26.
ShorrockSMcManusMKirbyS (2019) Investigating the characteristics of vulnerable referrals made to a Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice13(2): 201–212.
TuranovicJJPrattTC (2014) ‘Can’t stop, won’t stop’: Self-control, risky lifestyles, and repeat victimization. Journal of Quantitative Criminology30(1): 29–56.
29.
WalbySTowersJFrancisB (2016) Is violent crime increasing or decreasing?A new methodology to measure repeat attacks making visible the significance of gender and domestic relations. British Journal of Criminology56(6): 1203–1234.
