Intimate Partner Violence [IPV] has been highlighted as a priority for UK governments and criminal justice agencies since the 1990s. However, whilst generating significant policy and procedural responses, the overall impact continues to be criticised. This paper examines contemporary approaches to IPV identification and response, highlighting the limitations within victim engagement and empowerment. It then moves on to specific developments and theories in victimology, demonstrating how research into victim engagement is emerging and could be utilised in practice to enhance victim empowerment. It argues that policy and procedure based upon an enhanced victim empowerment approach would be necessary in striving for positive criminal justice outcomes and for increasing victim satisfaction.

Individual and organisational factors have been identified as influencing personal wellbeing, with an emphasis placed on the organisation and management to support their staff. Whilst various policies, interventions and campaigns are in place at national and local level, it is unclear how well individual and organisational perspectives of wellbeing are aligned. This study seeks to address this through the analysis of secondary data provided by Oscar Kilo in 2018: Blue Light Wellbeing Frameworks (organisational perspective) and Human Resources policy review survey data (individual perspective). Whilst findings indicate positive steps to enhancing police wellbeing, a disconnect between the organisation and employees was apparent.

Policing demands are widely acknowledged to negatively impact on the physical and mental health of police officers and staff. Research has documented the need for greater insight into the stressors and trauma that impact police officers, with a current national drive towards enhancing the police wellbeing agenda: namely, Oscar Kilo and the National Wellbeing Service. To understand the current wellbeing strategies in place, 34 Blue Light Wellbeing Frameworks were analysed. A mixed methods approach was adopted: quantitative data was descriptively examined, with thematic analyses employed to explore the qualitative data. Findings from the review highlight developments in police wellbeing, as well as areas for future development.

This study examines whether increases in incidents of female domestic abuse occur during FIFA world cup tournaments, in countries, other than the UK. Columbian medical records providing national daily counts, relating to Violence Against Women (VAW) and females subject to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), across two world cup tournaments (2014/2018) were analysed. The number of medical examinations rose by 43% (VAW) and 39% (IPV) during the 2014 Columbia match days, and 26% (VAW) and 27% (IPV) during the 2018 match days, when compared to non-match days (p < .001). The increases were higher on a weekend and when winning, rather than losing.

The paper provides a conceptual argument for the importance of understanding victim decision making in responding to cases of domestic abuse. It applies core elements of decision-making theory to illustrate how victims may undergo different forms of thinking, could be affected by bias, consider gain and loss differently, and suffer from decision inertia. Suggestions are provided on how this perspective could be used in practice to deliver a victim empowerment approach in policing. However, the paper also expresses the importance of the theory’s limitations, especially around external validity, and suggests that research across various disciplines is critical to determine whether the perspective could be placed onto an empirical footing.

Suggestions to increase prosecution rates in domestic abuse cases often focus on improving victim cooperation and evidence gathering. This study explores the impact of persons involved in abuse investigations by modelling five variables (victim cooperation; witness cooperation; presence of children; suspect admission; and presence of physical evidence) across 540 cases of domestic abuse. The presence of physical evidence, as well as victim and witness cooperation, all increased the likelihood of a charge against the suspect. However, suspect confession often resulted in a police caution, meaning no successful charge. The implications of these findings to improve investigation and prosecution are discussed.