New Report Released: Family violence and women’s deaths by suicide : A Victorian study

Authored by:
Stefani Vasil, Lecturer in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Australian Catholic University
Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Principal Consultant, SEQURE Consulting and Professor (Practice),Monash University
Marie Segrave, Professor of Criminology and ARC Future Fellow, Melbourne University

This study explores the overlooked link between family violence and women’s deaths by suicide in Victoria. Reviewing coronial cases and expert interviews, it identifies gaps in recognising family violence and highlights opportunities to strengthen prevention, intervention, and investigative processes to better protect women at risk.

This study examines investigation processes relating to histories of family violence following women’s deaths by suicide in Victoria. Women’s deaths by suicide in the context of family violence victimisation represent an important but often overlooked dimension of gender-based violence.

Drawing on interviews with practitioners from Victoria and the UK, the findings offer timely insights into crisis system responses and coronial investigation processes in Victoria in the context of deaths by suicide of women who have experienced family violence victimisation.

In 2024 the Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches, Unlocking the Prevention Potential, recommended that improving understandings of and responses to family violence-related suicides must become a state and national priority. Delivering on this recommendation requires sustained investment in prevention, better data collection, and long-term support for systems change. Critically, it also requires a detailed analysis of current practices in each state and territory jurisdiction.

Building on the work of the Rapid Review and advocacy by Dr Chelsea Tobin, CF, GAICD (Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre), Lauren Callaway and Anne Summers among others, this study lays the ground for a better understanding of how support service responses, suicide risk assessment, and coronial investigations are operating in Victoria.

“We highlight the critical need for continued comprehensive investigation into these processes and the circumstances surrounding women’s deaths by suicide.”

The study employed a qualitative research design. Researchers reviewed 12 coronial investigations released between 2019 and 2024 in which family violence was identified or suspected in the lead-up to a woman’s death. This review informed in-depth interviews with 20 practitioners from Victoria and the UK, working across family violence, health, and justice sectors. Their insights shed light on how investigative processes currently account for family violence and how systems respond to women at risk.

The study is exploratory and does not constitute a formal evaluation of existing systems or processes. However, it provides a detailed examination of current practices and draws attention to the critical considerations needed to understand the relationship between family violence and women’s suicides.

The report illuminates a range of systemic challenges – as well as opportunities – for identifying and responding to women at risk of suicide, along with the issues that can arise in recognising the role and impacts of family violence prior to women’s deaths by suicide.