Glossary

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge those who have been affected by family violence, including those who are currently, or have previously experienced family violence. We solemnly acknowledge those individuals lost to family violence.

We acknowledge the Victorian Aboriginal people as the First Peoples and Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land and water on which we rely. We acknowledge and respect that Aboriginal communities are steeped in traditions and customs built on a disciplined social and cultural order that has sustained 60,000 years of existence. We acknowledge the significant disruptions to social and cultural order and the ongoing hurt caused by colonisation. We acknowledge the ongoing leadership role of Aboriginal communities in addressing and preventing family violence.

A note on terminology

In this report, we use the term ‘people who experience violence’ and ‘people who use violence’. These were the preferred terms identified by service providers. People who use violence is also used interchangeably with program participants. We use the term ‘perpetrator’ to refer to the new community-based cohort interventions and case management program, since this is the name of the programs adopted by Family Safety Victoria (FSV). It is also used to refer to ‘perpetrator interventions’ more generally.

‘Accountability’ in the context of this report refers to people who use violence ‘taking responsibility' or ‘ownership’ of their violent behaviour. This definition has been adopted based on feedback from providers for two reasons. Firstly, to distinguish between system-level factors holding people who use violence to account (i.e. justice responses) versus people who use violence taking responsibility and accepting the consequences for their own behaviour. This reflects that only the person who uses violence can choose to end their use of violence.

Secondly, this definition of accountability acknowledges that, for a number of participant cohorts referenced in this report, the community and/or government is also accountable for inflicting past experiences of trauma and/or discrimination on these groups. Further, the system should provide people who use violence with appropriate mechanisms to enable them to take responsibility for their behaviour. This should be supported by a ‘web of accountability’, involving system-wide responsibility to create improved system integration, and a more connected and coordinated response to both people who use violence and people who experience violence. This reflects that the system can and should use both justice and community responses to hold responsible the person who uses violence.