The domestic violence law, introduced last year, is being reviewed to improve the way in which different entities work together and fine-tune the process, according to director of the government’s social welfare agency Appoġġ.

“We’ve come a long way, but there are still a lot of improvements to be made. We are working on amendments that would ensure that the different entities – like health, education and the police – are working in sync,” Ruth Sciberras told Times of Malta.

The time has come to re-evaluate the system to see how it is working and if everyone is working together efficiently in the best interest of victims, she said.

In 2018, domestic violence increased to 8.4 per cent of all offences, reaching 1,341 cases, according to an annual report by Crime Malta.

That year the Gender-Based and the Domestic Violence Act was enacted. The law brought with it a new risk assessment tool known as the DASH system – the Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Risk Identification.

Throughout the year, DASH has been criticised by magistrates, prosecutors, defence lawyers and the police mainly because many cases are being ranked as “high risk” – overloading the system.

In 2018, domestic violence increased to 8.4 per cent of all offences

More recently, in August, the courts criticised the system after a woman was forced to live with her husband, a police sergeant, after she had reported him for domestic violence – because police took six months to press charges.

Krista Tabone, from Victim Support Malta, said this was “surprising” since the new legislation had increased the expediency with which victims were given protection orders and her agency had witnessed fewer cases of domestic abuse victims falling through the cracks.

Since DASH was introduced, if a person files a report of domestic abuse at the police station, they are met with social workers who conduct a risk assessment to gauge the severity of the case.

The risk assessment takes the form of questions. If the score indicates that the person is at high risk, the police have six hours to request the duty magistrate to issue a temporary protection order.

While stressing that DASH is a piloted, researched and tested system, Ms Sciberras said that, currently, the law stated that the risk assessment had to take place in all domestic violence reports – even if they involved name-calling. This was flooding the system and was to be reviewed, he said.

Domestic violence across the world has reached epidemic proportions and resources are limited. Photo: Shutterstock.com

Training professionals in risk assessment

Part of the process of fine-tuning the process involves ensuring that all stakeholders understand the DASH system.

This week, domestic violence expert Beverley Gilbert was in Malta to train 75 people that included social workers, risk assessors and police inspectors.

“What we’ve seen across the world is the only way to address domestic violence and this is through multi-agencies.

“And when you share understanding of the key critical issues, then you are enhancing trust between agencies and professions and you’re all beginning to work together,” says Ms Gilbert, an expert domestic violence risk assessor for the Family Court in London and lecturer in risk and safeguarding at Worcester University.

domestic violence has reached epidemic proportions across the world... resources are limited

“We’re in a situation across the world where domestic violence has reached epidemic proportions... resources are limited. We need to know who the families are and what are the risk levels that people are experiencing if we are to target our finite resources and our public protection services in the most efficient and appropriate way,” she said.

“And that’s what DASH is designed for.”

She stressed that DASH was not part of the police investigation but was designed as a checklist to identify risk areas.

Some of the 27 questions carried more weight than others and social workers used their knowhow and experience when assessing each case individually.

“For example, one of the questions is about stalking.

“Based on literature we know that one in two perpetrators who stalk will enact what they threaten. And that’s an international risk factor across the globe,” she said.