Figures for England and Wales prompt calls for more rigorous police investigations of cases

Only 3% of suicides related to domestic abuse in England and Wales in the past five years have resulted in any sort of prosecution, figures show.

Between 2020 and 2025, 553 people took their own lives after suspected abuse in an intimate relationship, but only 17 posthumous charges were brought.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda was one of the most intimate and large-scale acts of violence of the 20th century. In just 100 days, between 800,000 and one million people were killed, mainly Tutsis but also Hutus. Perpetrators were neighbors, teachers, church leaders, even family members, who attacked face-to-face with machetes, clubs, and spears.

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