Undertaking domestic homicide and suicide reviews: draft statutory guidance - consultation

Section 2 – Legislation

2.1. The Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Act 2025

The Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Act 2025 creates the legislative framework for domestic homicide and suicide reviews. The relationships within the scope of the 2025 Act are broader than relationships within the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 and the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) 2021 e.g. broader than those killed by a partner or ex-partner or children of victim/ perpetrator. The 2025 Act also includes provision to enable future expansion of the scope of the scheme, meaning that other types of deaths or events could be included within the 2025 Act through secondary legislation. This enables the legislation to be able to respond to changing circumstances over time which will help futureproof the review model.

Together the 2018 Act and 2021 Act set out in legislation what constitutes domestic abuse, abusive behaviour and coercive control, The 2021 Act replicates the 2018 Act is relation to abusive behaviour but in addition, includes that abusive behaviour can be a single incident as well as a course of conduct. The 2025 Act builds on the 2018 and 2021 Acts to ensure that a pattern of abusive behaviour or a single incident e.g. the death itself, is sufficient for the purposes of a domestic homicide or suicide review in terms of abusive behaviour.

2.2. Scope and Definitions

The scope of the Domestic Homicide and Suicide Review model has been developed through extensive multi-agency working, consultation and engagement, ensuring that it reflects broad consensus on all aspects of the model including the types of deaths that should be included. A high threshold of 90 percent support from consultation respondents was used to determine the initial scope, providing a strong foundation for the model to be built on and ensuing flexibility, allowing for future expansion.

The deaths within the review model are those that arise from abusive behaviour within relationships. Section 12 of the 2025 Act sets out the relationships that constitute a domestic abuse death and a connected death which are within scope of a domestic homicide or suicide review.

2.3. Person A and B

Person A “perpetrator” is a person who has, or appears to have, behaved in an abusive manner towards person B “victim”.

2.4. Domestic Abuse Deaths

A domestic abuse death involves abusive behaviour by “Person A” towards “Person B” and must fall within the qualifying relationship types. Abusive behaviour has the meaning given in the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 and includes any behaviour, whether a single incident or course of conduct, that a reasonable person would consider likely to cause physical or psychological harm. There are four types of domestic abuse death. These include where person B (the victim) was at the time of the abusive behaviour:

• the partner or ex-partner of person A (the perpetrator);
• the child of person A (the perpetrator);
• the child of person A’s (the perpetrator) partner or ex-partner;
• a young person living in the same household as person A (the perpetrator), or in the same household as person A’s (the perpetrator) partner or ex-partner.

2.5. Person A and B – Partners or Ex-Partners

Where person A and person B were or appear to have been partners or ex-partners each of the following would be a domestic abuse death:

• Person B dies or may have died (not by suicide) as a result of person A’s abusive behaviour;
• Person B dies by suicide, and it is or appears to be the case that person A’s abusive behaviour was a contributing factor. The abusive behaviour of person A need not have been the sole, main or direct cause of the death. It only needs to appear that there was abusive behaviour prior to the suicide which may have contributed to the suicide;
• Person B kills person A. This is known as violent resistance where the victim of domestic abuse kills their abusive partner or ex-partner.

2.6. Child of and Young Person

The 2025 Act uses the term ‘child of’ in the context of a parent/ child relationship. In this context child means a child of any age. A child of person B could mean a child living with person A and/ or B who is 5 years old but equally it could mean the child of person A and/ or B who is 45 years old and living completely independently. The term ‘child of’ also includes adopted children and any person who has been accepted by person A or person B as their child (regardless of their age when they were so accepted). This could include a stepchild or long-term foster child who has been accepted by person A and/or person B as “theirs”.

The 2025 Act also uses the term ‘young person’ to differentiate between a child of person A and/ or person B and a child or young person who is not. Young person within the 2025 Act means a person up to the age of 18 years old or up to 26 years old if previously “looked after” by a local authority. Someone who lives with person A and/ or person B but is not a child of or accepted by them as their own child e.g. a foster child or a niece, may be classed as a young person living in the same household. This would be considered on a case by case basis in the context of the nature of the relationship between the young person and person A and/ or person B.

2.7. Where Person A and B are not Partners or Ex-Partners

A domestic abuse death also includes certain deaths where person A and person B were not partners. These are outlined below and apply where person B was:

• Person A’s child (of any age),
• The child (of any age) of Person A’s partner or ex-partner, or
• A young person living in the same household as Person A or Person A’s partner/ ex-partner.

For these deaths to be domestic abuse deaths, both of the following must be true:

• Person B has or may have died (not by suicide) as a result of person A’s abusive behaviour and;
• There was or appears to have been at any time before the death, abusive behaviour between person A and any partner or ex-partner.

It does not matter:

• who was abusive,
• whether the partner/ ex-partner was related to or had any relationship with person B, or
• whether the abusive relationship was current or historic.

For such deaths there is an age qualification for young people where the death involves a young person living in the household. In such instances the death only qualifies if the person was still a young person at the time of death. This excludes cases where the harm occurred in youth, but death occurred in adulthood (or after the age of 26 in the case of a former “looked after” child) through later deterioration.

2.8. Connected Death of a Young Person

A connected death is where a young person is or appears to have been killed in either of the following ways:

• The young person is killed during the same incident that resulted in a domestic abuse death e.g. person A kills their partner, their child and/ or another unrelated young person present.
• Where the young person is killed but the “primary target” of the incident survived, the death will be a connected death where if the primary target had died their death would have been a domestic abuse death, e.g. person A attempts to kill their partner but a nearby young person dies instead.

A young person in this category does not need any specific relationship to person A or person B.

A connected death does not include where a young person dies by suicide.

2.9. Suicide of Person A

A reviewable death can include where person A dies by suicide but only where there is to be a domestic homicide or suicide review and it appears that the person whose behaviour has resulted in the death has themselves died by suicide. This would cover the situation where person A has killed their partner or ex-partner or killed their child (in a domestic abuse context) and has then committed suicide, but only where there is to be a review into the death of the primary victim.

Examples of deaths not included:

• Person A dies by suicide after being arrested for abusive behaviour, but no other death has occurred.
• A suicide not connected to domestic abuse or connected death.

Important Notes:

• Meeting these definitions does not automatically trigger a review.
• All cases must still pass the sift stage under section 19 to assess whether learning can be obtained.
• The Scottish Ministers may modify these categories by regulations.
• Definitions of child and young person are specific to this legislation and may differ from other Acts. For example, some Acts define a “child” as being under 18 which is not the case here where it is the parent-child relationship which is being referred to.

2.10. Future Expansion and Adaptability

Recognising the ripple effect of domestic abuse and that domestic abuse-related fatalities evolve in complexity, the model includes provision for future expansion. The legislation enables the Scottish Ministers to extend the review model’s scope to additional relationships or types of deaths, based on further research and consultation. The Scottish Ministers have committed to utilise this power to include so called “honour killings” within the model scope.

While future expansion is anticipated, the initial phase of the model prioritises establishing a strong, well-functioning review process to ensure quality and effectiveness. Given that reviews involve bereaved families, communities, and multiple agencies, ensuring that they are conducted with sensitivity, thoroughness, and integrity is essential.