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Ensure family violence offences are appropriately 'flagged'

Recommendation:
081
Status:
Implemented

Who is leading the change

  • Department of Justice and Community Safety

The Victorian Government ensure that offences committed in the context of family violence are appropriately ‘flagged’ —for example, by:

  • enhancing current links between Victoria Police’s, courts’ and Corrections Victoria’s databases
  • amending the Family Violence Protection Act 2008 (Vic) to deem criminal offences committed in the context of family violence to be ‘family violence offences’ for the purposes of being recorded in relevant databases
  • The Department of Justice and Community SafetyExternal Link is working together with Court Services VictoriaExternal Link and Victoria PoliceExternal Link to:

    • investigate the current information technology system capacity
    • investigate the funding implications for the information technology system updates
    • investigate potential resourcing implications for Court Services Victoria and Victoria Police
    • develop the legislative proposal to flag family violence offences on offenders’ criminal records
    • undertake consultation with stakeholders, including through the Chief Magistrate’s Family Violence Taskforce, the Family Violence Steering Committee and the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council
    • develop legislation to flag family violence offences on offenders’ criminal records
    • work with affected stakeholders to prepare for the legislative amendment to flag family violence offences on offenders’ criminal records to commence.
  • Since the Royal Commission into Family ViolenceExternal Link made this recommendation, a number of enhancements have been implemented to improve flagging of family violence related cased and links between Victoria PoliceExternal Link , CourtsExternal Link and Corrections VictoriaExternal Link case management systems.

    A family violence/sexual assault notation has been incorporated into the police charge sheet as a mandatory field. Modifications have been made to the family violence flag in the Court’s current case management system ‘Courtlink’, so that it is able to capture this information when provided by police. Police and the Courts have made changes to their IT systems to include the family violence flag in information that is electronically transmitted from LEAP to Courtlink. Charges not originally identified as family violence related but, during the hearing the Court determines they are family violence related, Courtlink can be updated to reflect this.

    A new Case Management System (CMS) is being developed for the Magistrates' Court of Victoria and the Children's Court of Victoria. The CMS will replace the current IT systems including Courtlink to strengthen and share appropriate information across the courts and key external parties including Victoria Police and Corrections.

    The 2021/22 State Budget also provided funding to improve the flagging of family violence perpetrators in the Corrections case management system.

  • Implemented.

Reviewed 23 September 2021

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