The federal government, some individual states, and many individual jurisdictions have begun to explore the reasons for domestic violence-related deaths in a systematic manner. Approximately 45 states have at least some form of domestic violence fatality review. In some regions these reviews dovetail with or naturally build upon existing coordinated community responses to domestic violence. The highly detailed examination of the relationships between service delivery systems in a fatality review also has much in common with the approach used by safety and accountability audits, otherwise known as safety assessments or institutional analyses. Put differently, fatality reviews increasingly form part of an expanding array of multi-agency, interdisciplinary strategies for confronting domestic violence. Moreover, fatality reviews and safety audits can be combined, with the latter intervention offering a powerful tool for implementing the recommendations created by the former.

Underpinning each of these strategies is a concern with the experiences of women and other family members, a desire to improve the accountability of individual agencies and enhance interagency and system coordination. In fatality reviews, such processes, if conducted thoughtfully, are likely to yield much deeper and more detailed understandings of domestic homicide.