Suicides linked to domestic abuse should be treated as potential homicides

Politicians and experts in the UK are urging that suicides where domestic abuse is suspected be investigated as potential homicides, and they call for better police training and a more investigative approach. Reporting cited a large discrepancy between a media estimate of up to 1,500 such suicides a year and official figures that recorded 98 last year.

Politicians and experts in the UK are calling for suicides linked to domestic abuse to be treated as potential homicides so any role by a perpetrator can be fully examined. They say police need better training and should adopt a more investigative approach rather than relying on checklist procedures when dealing with unexpected deaths. Recent reporting highlighted a wide gap between a media estimate that up to 1,500 suicides a year may be linked to domestic abuse and official data collated by the National Police Chiefs' Council that recorded 98 such cases last year. Campaigners and some officials say those differences and investigative practices leave bereaved families seeking clearer answers. Key points: - Politicians and experts have urged that suicides where domestic abuse is suspected be investigated as potential homicides so any contribution by a perpetrator can be examined. - Recent reporting was cited as estimating up to 1,500 related suicides annually, while National Police Chiefs' Council figures recorded 98 cases for the last year. - Senior figures including the domestic abuse commissioner and a former victims' commissioner said police investigations often do not probe sufficiently and called for improved training on coercive control and the mental-health impact of abuse. - The government has provided funding for a domestic homicide project to collect better data on domestic abuse-related deaths, and some politicians have called for wider access to police records such as the Police National Database. Summary: The coverage reflects concern that deaths caused or contributed to by domestic abuse are being undercounted and that current investigative practices may miss evidence of a perpetrator's role. There is reported cross-party support and government funding aimed at improving data collection; how those measures will change classification or investigation of individual deaths is undetermined at this time.