California Attorney General Bonta has announced the release of a new protocol for counties establishing domestic violence incident review teams.

A review team is a collaborative effort between legal, health, criminal justice, advocacy and judicial groups that come together to support, protect and fight for domestic violence survivors and their families.

The new protocol describes how different review teams across the state, the country, and the world approach key decisions. It highlights emerging practices and presents their potential advan­tages and disadvantages.

“These teams save lives,” said Attorney General Bonta. “It is my hope that each county in California establishes their own local team to advocate for survivors and their families. When we break down our silos and work together, everyone wins. My office is always at the ready to fight for survivors.”

In 1995, California state law authorized counties to establish Domestic Violence Death Review Teams.

The law directs review teams to identify and review domestic violence deaths, facilitate interagency communications, and develop recommendations for prevention and intervention policies and protocols with the objective of reducing and eradicating incidences of domestic violence.

In 2022, the legislature amended the law to authorize the review of near-death incidents and directed the Office of the Attorney General to publish a protocol for the development and imple­mentation of interagency domestic violence death review teams for use by counties.

A domestic violence death review team is a county-level multidisciplinary team authorized by the California Penal Code to:

• Identify domestic violence death and near-death cases;
• Review death and near-death incidents;
• Facilitate agency responses;
• Develop prevention and intervention recommendations.

For more information and resources on domestic violence, please visit our Victims’ Services Unit website at https://oag.ca.gov/victimservices or call 877-433-9069.