Family Violence in Domestic Homicides: A Case Study of Women Who Killed Intimate Partners Post-Legislative Reform in Victoria, Australia.

This article examines the impact of legislative reforms enacted in 2005 in Victoria, Australia, on legal responses to women charged with murder for killing their intimate partner. The reforms provided for a broader understanding of the context of family violence to be considered in such cases, but we found little evidence of this in practice. This is partly attributable to persistent misconceptions among the legal profession about family violence and why women may believe it necessary to kill a partner. We recommend specialized training for legal professionals and increased use of family violence evidence to help ensure women's claims of self-defense receive appropriate responses from Victorian courts.

The role of a community kitchen for clients in a socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhood.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: To investigate the role of a community kitchen for clients living in a socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhood. METHODS: In 2005, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 clients attending a community kitchen located in a socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhood in New South Wales. Participants were asked their reasons for attending the kitchen. Qualitative content analysis was used to categorise verbatim responses to the open-ended questions. RESULTS: The main reasons participants attended the community kitchen were to alleviate food insecurity and the opportunity to interact socially in a safe place, followed by obtaining advice on a broad range of services to address health and social problems. CONCLUSIONS: The community kitchen had a positive effect on the lives of socially isolated people who are usually hard to reach, by providing meals, and facilitating social interaction and access to a wide range of services.