260 new family violence investigations launched each day

Police are having to abandon some prosecutions because of a lack of funding – not only for police but for the whole justice sector, the Criminal Bar Association says.

New figures show that in 2013, police started an average of 260 new investigations of family violence every day but fewer than 40 percent of them were recorded as offences.

Figures from the Family Violence Clearinghouse show 95,080 family violence investigations were launched in 2013 but, of those investigations, only 37,880 were recorded as offences.

Criminal Bar Association president Tony Bouchier said on Tuesday that police could not afford to prosecute as much as previously.

“I think it’s purely to do with money. It’s not only the police but it’s the whole justice sector that is being starved of money and as result is not performing.”

The report also found that between 2007 and 2013, 56 percent of the 176 female homicide victims were killed by a family member.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/249188/funding-blamed-for-fewer-prosecutions