Domestic violence register will be overseen

THE Department of Justice is to monitor the operation of a domestic violence register planned for Britain to see how a similar wife-beater tracking system might work here.

Legislation setting up the register is to published in Britain next month after long debate about how best to track the movements of violent men and warn new partners about their past.

Similar to the sex offenders' register, it would contain the names of anyone sentenced to six months or more for assaulting their wife, partner or girlfriend, and the information would be available to social services and, in some instances, the offender's new partner.

The aim is to stop offenders before their violence escalates to murder a trend common to Britain and Ireland.

In Britain, an average of two women are killed every week by a partner or ex-partner and in Ireland, 53 of the 81 women murdered since 1996 were killed in their own homes.

Women's Aid welcomed the British initiative as acknowledgement of the seriousness of domestic violence, but said more groundwork would have to be done before a similar system could operate here.

"The theory behind it is sound. We know that the problem of domestic violence doesn't stop when the domestic situation changes.

" When a violent man leaves a woman, he brings the violence with him and his next partner is likely to be the next victim," said Women's Aid research and policy manager Rachel Mullen.

But she warned there would be limitations to the effectiveness of any register and a risk of creating a false sense of security.

"Sometimes the worst offenders can be the hardest to identify. Very few men are sentenced to prison for abusing a partner.

"A survey in 1999 showed as few as 1% to 3% of men convicted were given a prison sentence. Plus, a lot of women don't report assaults against them.

Often the more dangerous the abuser, the more reluctant they are to get the law involved."

While gardaí now record call-outs to domestic violence incidents there were 9,983 in 2001, resulting in 1,890 arrests and 1,286 convictions serious assaults by partners against partners are still not categorised separately from other assaults, and court records on barring orders have only recently become computerised.

"We feel the Garda Pulse (computer) system could be a big help in tracking these men, but we have a long way to go in co-ordinating the various agencies police, health boards, local authorities and social services before we could put the information to good use," Ms Mullen said.

A spokeswoman said the Department of Justice was aware of the legislation proposed in Britain, but while there were currently no plans to follow the example, she confirmed the British experience would be monitored.