Office of Victim/Witness AssistanceDomestic Violence Fatality Review Committee

The New Hampshire Domestic Violence Fatality Review Committee (DVFRC) was created in 1999 by Executive Order. The Committee was established as part of the Governor's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence, originally created in 1993, to provide systemic review of domestic violence homicides in order to reduce the number of future fatalities.

The Committee has a very broad-based membership, reflective of the many organizations and agencies that work with domestic violence victims, offenders and children. Membership includes representation from the District and Family Courts, local and state law enforcement, victim services (through the Attorney General's Office and Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence), education, health care (medical and mental health), batterers intervention, visitation network, Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), Elderly and Adult Services, clergy, Employee Assistance Program and others. Attorneys are also represented, including state and federal prosecutors, New Hampshire Public Defenders, and private practitioners.

The mission of the Fatality Review Committee is to reduce domestic violence-related fatalities through systemic multi-disciplinary review of domestic violence fatalities in New Hampshire; through inter-disciplinary training and community-based prevention education; and through data-driven recommendations for legislation and public policy.

The Committee attempts to identify high risk factors, current practices, gaps in system responses and barriers to safety in domestic violence situations related to the death. This results in recommendations aimed at improving systematic responses in an effort to prevent similar deaths in the future. The Committee provides the recommendations to the participating agencies and asks them to take actions consistent with their own mandates. The Committee publishes the recommendation and the agency responses to those recommendations in an Annual Report.

New HampshireDepartment of JusticeOffice of the Attorney General

Office of Victim/Witness AssistanceDomestic Violence Fatality Review Committee

Annual Reports