Evaluation of the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria Family Violence Response: Executive Summary and Magistrates’ Court of Victoria Response

Summary of the independent evaluation conducted by Swinburne University of the MCV family violence reforms with MCV’s response. The Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science at Swinburne University of Technology was engaged to undertake an evaluation of the family violence reforms implemented by MCV between 2019 and 2021. The evaluation sought to assess the effectiveness of the reforms in addressing identified needs, implementation progress, and success in achieving outcomes. In particular, it was to examine the extent to which MCV's family violence reforms were contributing to improved safety for court users experiencing family violence, greater accountability for people using violence, and a more accessible and inclusive response for court users in family violence matters. The evaluation principally focused on the SFVC model as it was being implemented in the first five gazetted court locations. However, the evaluation was also intended to take a global view of the efficacy of MCV's reform program. As such, it considered other initiatives which both supported and extended beyond the SFVCs, including the provision of specialist family violence practitioners, the implementation of risk and information sharing frameworks, specialist training for magistrates and court staff, and infrastructure and processes designed to improve information provision and support to court users before hearings