Dr. Peter Jaffe PhD is a psychologist, Professor Emeritus, and one of the founding Directors of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children in the Faculty of Education at Western University (London Ontario, Canada).  He has co-authored eleven books, 40 chapters and over 80 articles related to domestic violence, the impact of domestic violence on children, homicide prevention and the role of the criminal and family justice systems. For the past 30 years, he has presented workshops across the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Europe to various groups including judges, lawyers, health, mental health professionals and educators. Since 1999, he has been on faculty for the National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges in the US for judicial education programs entitled “Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases”. He was a founding member of Ontario's Chief Coroner’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee. He has also been instrumental in developing violence prevention programs for schools. Together with David Wolfe, Claire Crooks and Ray Hughes, he helped in the development of “The Fourth R: Skills for Youth Relationships”, a school-based curriculum targeting multiple forms of violence, including bullying, dating violence and peer violence. The curriculum is being used in over 5,000 schools in Canada and the US. In 2009, he was named an Officer in the Order of Canada by the Governor General for his work preventing domestic violence in the community.  

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP.......

Domestic homicides are an extreme form of violence against women and children across Canada. Many of these deaths appear predictable and preventable with hindsight.  Some of this hindsight has come from various death review processes across Canada, the US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand that have developed in the past decade. These reviews by interdisciplinary committees shed light on what transpired and how to prevent the same outcome in similar circumstances in the future. These reviews often highlight patterns of known risk factors prior to the homicide as well as shortcomings in inter-agency collaboration with health, social services, and education and justice professionals. There may be multiple systems and organizations who miss opportunities to share information and develop effective intervention strategies in the community and the justice system. This presentation outlines the often-repeated lessons learned from these tragedies that include the need for enhanced professional and public education to save lives.  Future directions are discussed in terms of the need for better risk assessment, safety planning and risk management by legal and mental health professionals.