In a year dominated by headline stories of domestic violence and the murder of nearly 70 women, award-winning journalist Sarah Ferguson has spent six months on the frontline of our national crisis. With unprecedented access to courts and safe rooms, domestic abuse programs in prison, forensic doctors and specialised police units, Sarah also moves into a women's refuge in search of answers. How does domestic violence begin? How does it escalate from control to physical violence and even death?

• Sarah Ferguson