Domestic violence typically refers to physical, verbal, emotional, and/or psychological violence between intimate partners (Dutton, 2009; Johnson, 2006), and is a common societal phenomenon, affecting approximately one-third of women in their lifetime (Statistics Canada, 2009; Nathens, Kernic, Holt, & Rivara, 2004). Equally significant, recidivism among offenders is relatively common and often occurs soon after the previous offence (Kingsnorth, 2006; Gondolf, 2000). This report briefly reviews the literature available on domestic violence recidivism, calls attention to risk assessment tools available to assist in predicting recidivism, and provides an analysis and discussion of recidivism data associated to incidents of domestic violence responded to by the Burnaby Detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
