Has He Been Violent Before?

Brown Michael , father of Clare Wood who was killed by her former partner as quoted in Alyssa McDonald, ‘Clare's Law: Should Abuse History be Revealed to new Partners?’, Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney), 21 July 2011 <http://www.smh.com.au/national/clares-law-should-abuse-history-be-revealed-to-new-partners-20110721-Ihqhc.html>.

This article uses the term domestic violence as this is the term employed by most DVDSs, including the NSW DVDS. Exceptions are the ‘Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse (Scotland)’ and the ‘Family Violence Information Disclosure Scheme’ in NZ.

In the Oxley, Shoalhaven, Sutherland and St George NSW Police Force Local Areas Commands.

See Queensland Law Reform Commission reference <http://www.qIrc.qId.gov.au/_data/assets/pdf_file/0006/475800/tor-domestic-violence-disclosure-scheme.pdf>.

Government of South Australia , Domestic Violence: Discussion Paper (July 2016), 51–8.

Royal Commission into Family Violence in Victoria (RCFV) , Report and Recommendations (2016) Vol 1 145; Law Reform Commission of Western Australia , Enhancing Family and Domestic Violence Laws, Project 104 (2014) 180.

RCFV , above n 6, 145.

Grant Troy Deputy Premier of NSW/ Minister for Justice and Police and Pru Goward, Minister for Women/Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault , ‘Disclosing Perpetrator's Violent Past’ (Media release, 14 October 2015). <http://www.women.nsw.gov.au/_data/assets/file/0004/335398/Grant-Goward-med-rel-Disclosing-perpetrators-violent-past.pdf>.

Current/former spouses or de facto partners, ‘couples promised to each other under cultural or religious tradition, or who are dating’ whether or not those relationships involve a sexual relationship. It includes heterosexual and same-sex relationships. See NSW government , Person at risk application form <http://www.domesticviolence.nsw.gov.au/_data/assets/pdf_file/0005/371192/dvds-application-form-primary-person.pdf>.

NSW government , Third party application <http://www.domesticviolence.nsw.gov.au/_data/assets/pdf_file/0006/371193/dvds-application-form-third-party.pdf>.

The application form asks whether the potential victim knows about the application, if not the third party is asked to explain why that person has not been informed: ibid.

NSW government , Fact Sheet: NSW Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (April 2016), I.

Under Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 (NSW) s 41; and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW) s 62.

NSW government , Domestic Violence Safety Assessment Tool (no date) <http://www.domesticviolence.nsw.gov.au/_data/assets/file/0020/301178/DVSAT.pdf>.

NSW government , above n 12.

Ibid.

NSW government , NSW Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme: Discussion Paper (May 2015) 12.

Ibid.

Grace Jamie , ‘Disclosing Domestic Violence’ (2014) 97(1) Criminal Justice Matters 18, 19.

This article refers to women as victims and men as the predominant perpetrators to reflect what the data reveals around the gendered nature of domestic violence: ANROWS, Violence Against Women: Key Statistics <http://media.aomx.com/anrows.org.au/s3fs-public/Key%20statistics%20-%20al1.pdf>.

Cox Peta , Violence Against Women in Australia: Additional analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Personal Safety Survey, 2012, ANROWS Horizons Research Report No 1 (2015) 105.

Douglas Heather & Stark Tanja , Stories from Survivors: Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice Interventions (TC Beirne School of Law, UQ, 2010) 10.

Cox, above n 21, 105.

See Women's Legal Services NSW Submission (June 2015) 5; and NCOSS Submission (June 2015) 2.

See Legal Aid NSW Submission (June 2015), 5.

NSW government , above n 17, 13.

NSW government , NSW Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme: Consultation Report (no date) 7.

RCFV , above n 6, 145.

Carline Anna and Easteal Patricia , Shades of Grey – Domestic and Sexual Violence against Women: Law Reform and Society (Routledge, 2014) 80.

Refuge, Submission to the UK DVDS Consultation (2012) 6. <http://www.refuge.org.uk/files/FINAL_disclosure_scheme_consultation_responsejan_2012.pdf>.

Gerathy Sarah , ‘NSW Police introduces domestic violence disclosure scheme to protect potential victims’, ABC News (14 April 2016) <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-13/nsw-police-introduce-domestic-violence-disclosure-scheme/7324460>.

MacDowell Elizabeth , ‘Domestic violence and the politics of self-help’ (2016) 22 William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law 203, 221.

Wilson Denise , ‘Becoming better Helpers’ (2015) 11 (1) Police Quarterly 25, 28.

Ibid 28.

Duggan Marian , ‘Using victim's voices to prevent violence against women’ (2012) 10 British journal of Community justice 25, 31.

UK Home Office , Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) Pilot Assessment (2013) 11. <https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-disclosure-scheme-pilot-assessment>.

Carmody Moira and Carrington Kerry , ‘Preventing Sexual Violence?’ (2000) 33 ANZJournal of Criminology 341, 347.

RVFC , above n 6, 145. See also Fitz-Gibbon Kate and Walklate Sandra , ‘The efficacy of Clare's Law in domestic violence law reform in England and Wales’ (forthcoming) Criminology & Criminal Justice.

Burke Liz , ‘How the new domestic violence background check works’, news.com.au (15 April 2016) <http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/how-the-new-domestic-violence-background-check-works/news-story/772370829f05dc86dbflIflcla85f4b32>.

See Mahoney Martha , ‘Victimisation or oppression?’ in Fineman Martha A and Mykitiuk Roxanne (eds), The Public Nature of Private Violence (Routledge, 1994), 59–92.

NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team , Annual Report 2013–2015, 6.

Carline and Easteal, above n 29, 81. See also Fitz-Gibbon and Walklate , above n 38, 12–13.

For example, see submission from Women's Legal Services NSW (19 June 2015) <http://www.wlsnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/WLS-NSW-Submission-DVDS.pdf>.

See submissions to the UK DVDS consultation from Women's Aid (2012), copy on file with author; and from Refuge, above n 30.

Wilson , above n 33, 28.

Home Office , above n 36, 15.

Carline and Easteal , above n 29, 80. See also Fitz-Gibbon and Walklate , above n 38, 12.

Independent Police Complaints Commission , IPCC Independent Investigation: Greater Manchester Police contact with Clare Wood prior to her death (2010), 2. <https://www.ipcc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/investigation_commissioner_reports/clare_wood_report_final_10_march.pdf>.

Ibid 12–15.

Ibid 8.

Ibid 14.

See submissions from Refuge (UK), above n 30; Women's Aid, above n 44; and Liberty UK (January 2012) <https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/sites/default/files/liberty-s-response-ho-consultation-dv-disclosure-scheme-jan-20l2-.pdf>.

NSW Domestic Violence Death Review Team , Annual Report 2012–2013, recommendations 1–3 and 5–6.

NSW Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues , Domestic Violence Trends and Issues in NSW (2012), recommendations 38–41 and 47.

See Scotland First Minister , ‘Domestic Abuse Protection Goes National’ (Media Release, 1 July 2015); HM Government , A Call to Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls: Action Plan 2014 <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/287758/VAWG_Action_Plan.pdf>.

NSW government , Stage I: Domestic and Family Violence Package <https://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/news/dfv_dv_package_factsheet_oct_15.pdf>.

Scotland First Minister , above n 55.

NSW government , above n 12.

Home Office , DVDS: Impact Assessment (IA): Final (31 October 2013), 14–15 <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/260899/DVDS_IA.pdf>.

Home Office , above n 36, 4.

Ibid 2.

Ibid 9.

Ibid 3–4.

Ibid 4.

Ibid 10.

Ibid 4–5.

Home Office , Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS): One year on – Home Office assessment of national roll-out (March 2016). <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/505434/2016-03-08_DVDS_report_final_.pdf>.

Ibid 3.

Home Office , above n 36, 2.

Home Office , above n 67, 4.

Grierson Jamie , ‘”Clare's Law” saves 1,300 women from violent partners in first year’, The Independent (UK), Monday 26 January 2015. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/clares-law-saves-1300-women-from-violent-partners-in-first-year-10001781.html>.

Scotland First Minister , above n 55. During the pilot, 59 applications were made under the Scottish scheme resulting in 22 disclosures. See also ‘Clare's Law saves more than 300 people from abuse’ (8 September 2015) <http://www.gmpcc.org.uk/news/clares-law-saves-more-than-300-people-from-abuse/>.

RCFV , above n 6, 145.

Grace Jamie , ‘Clare's Law, or the National Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme’ (2015) 79(1) Journal of Criminal Law 36, 36.