Ms Rosmarie Winter, PhD Candidate

Romy.Winter@utas.edu.au

Thesis Title: The Management of Risk in Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract
Violence against women is pervasive, with millions of women around the world being physically and sexually abused each year, mostly by men with whom they are in a relationship with, or were previously (Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996; United Nations Population Fund 2005). National and international research estimates that only about 15% of domestic violence incidents are reported to the criminal justice system and that between six and twenty incidents will have occurred before the police are contacted (Millbank 2000). Reporting is inhibited by a number of factors; related to it being perceived as a private matter and victims perception that the police can do anything about it (Fyfe et al. 1997) as well as being inhibited by fear of retribution (Hamby 2005) and of other consequences of involving the criminal justice system. However there are correlations between escalation of risk (danger) and reporting the violence.

This research will examine how the state, via its criminal justice system, categorises and manages risk of serious violence against an intimate partner within the context of an integrated community response to family violence. A major focus will be on examining the sources and severity of any systemic and personal barriers to achieving safety and security for victims of intimate partner violence. A range of methods are to be used including a quantitative analysis of over 900 risk assessment instruments undertaken by police officers. Qualitative methods will include observations and interviews with individuals and groups and this data will be analysed using non-numeric data analysis software.

Supervisor
Associate Professor Roberta Julian Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies (TILES).

Romy has a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Sociology and Administration, and a Masters of Applied Sociology (Social Research). Her Masters project in 1995 involved developing a social profile for applicants for unlawful termination of employment from an analysis of the case-tracking database of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia.

She undertakes a limited amount of freelance research work in conjunction with her PhD work. In terms of research experience, she has undertaken multiple research projects, questionnaire design and analysis of responses from written and online surveys, interviews and focus groups – including group interviews with school children which led to the development of the Mercury's Attitude section and was awarded an international Newspaper industry award for reader research. Some recent freelance research projects include:

• Development of Community Road Safety Kit for DIER Tas, with Community Focus 2007;
• Extension of Women Get Active Program to Men, with Community Focus 2007;
• Survey Analysis ‘Women on Wheels' Project – Population Health, DHHS Tas 2007;
• Evaluation of Private Rental Tenancy Support Scheme (Housing and Community Research Unit, University of Tasmania , 2007);
• Literature Review on Court Mandated Drug Diversion Programs for Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, and Departments of Psychology and Rural Health, University of Tasmania 2007;
• Evaluation of the Community Sector Skills Development Program for Department of Health and Human Services, with Community Focus 2006;
• Evaluation of Women Get Active program for Women Tasmania, in conjunction with Community Focus (November 2005-ongoing);
• Online survey of readers of Attitude in The Mercury (August 2005);
• Readership profiles of The Mercury, The Saturday Mercury and The Sunday Tasmanian (August 2005);
• Editing the report of Meenah Mienne (Aboriginal Arts Mentorship program) for arts@work (August 2005); and
• Survey of readers of Tasmanian Country (January 2005).

Research Interests
Interpersonal violence, risk, intimate relationships, social change, social mapping, social policy, work and industrial relations, criminology, ethnography.

Publications

Forthcoming
Winter, R.E. Policing Domestic Violence section in Dictionary of Policing Sage - late 2007.

Winter, R.E. Systemic and Personal Barriers to Achieving Safety and Security for Victims of Intimate Partner Violence, The Security Journal Special Issue: Critical Perspectives on Assessment early 2009.

2006
Winter, R.E. Researching Family Violence . Briefing Paper 2. Tasmanian Institute of Law E nforcement Studies, Hobart June, 12 pp ISSN: 1832-701X.
Cited in

• Braaf, R. & Sneddon, C. (2007) Family Law Act Reform: The Potential for Screening and Risk Assessment for Family Violence , (Issues Paper 13) Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, UNSW.
• McFerran, L. (2007) Taking Back the Castle: How Australia is Making the Home Safer For Women and Children , (Issues Paper 14) Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, Sydney.
• David, N. (2007) Exploring the Use of Domestic Violence Fatality Review Teams (Issues Paper 15) Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, Sydney.

2005
Julian R.J. and Winter, R.E. Safe At Home - Family Violence Risk Assessment Screening Tool (RAST): Literature Review and Methodological Analysis. Hobart: Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, University of Tasmania, 65 pp.

1999
Winter, R.E. The Attitudes of Young People to The Mercury's Youth Sections, B&T, February 27, Yaffa Publications, Sydney.

1998
Winter, R.E. 21st Century Social Trends, In the News, News Limited, Sydney October Winter, R.E. The New Australian Dream – Insulation, In the News, News Limited, Sydney, August.

Conference Papers
Assessing Risk within Intimate Partner Violence through a Refugee Lens: Implications for policing and refugee communities (with Danielle Campbell), Australia New Zealand Society of Criminology, Adelaide, September 2007.

Policing Intimate Partner Violence, ANZSOC Postgraduate Conference, Adelaide & UTAS Inaugural Postgraduate Conference, September 2007.

Safety or Surveillance? The Challenges of Assessing Risk in Intimate Partner Violence, Family Therapy Conference Hobart, 6 September 2007.

Mandatory Reporting of Intimate Partner Violence: A conundrum for Human Rights, Australia New Zealand Society of Criminology, Hobart, February 2006.

The Risk of Risk Assessment in Intimate Partner Violence: What's wrong with Actuarial Tools? National Conference of The Australian Sociological Association, Hobart, December 2005 (refereed).

Damned if they do and damned if they don't: Reporting abuse by an intimate partner ‘Transgressions'; Criminology Postgraduate Conference, Melbourne University, November 2005.

Client Experience with the Industrial Relations Court: Preliminary Results of the National Survey, presented to Judges Conference, Industrial Relations Court of Australia, Sydney, September 1996.

Seminar Presentations
Safety or Surveillance? The Topography of Intimate Partner Violence Risk in Tasmania, Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, March 2007.

Researching Family Violence, DHHS Family, Child and Youth Health Professional Development Seminar, September 2006.

Risk, Surveillance and Intimate Partner Violence, School of Government, May 2006.