Responding to domestic violence

Question 1

UK definition of DV

Answer 1

-Covers controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between people aged 16 or over who have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.
-includes: psychological, physical sexual, financial and emotional abuse.

Question 2

Family Law Act 1996

Answer 2

Attempted to create a coherent set of civil law remedies

Question 3

Stark (2009), Barlow (2020)

Answer 3

• Increasing interest in the concept of coercive control.
• an act or pattern of acts of assault, threats humiliation, and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish or frighten their victim.
• Designed to make a person dependent by isolating them from support, exploiting them, depriving them of independence and regulating their everyday behaviour.

Question 4

Police Recorded data in England and Wales

Answer 4

• Mar 2020 - 798,607 DA crimes
• Mar2021 - 845,734 - 6% increase
• Mar2022 - 909,504 - 8% increase
• Crime survey for Eng and Wales: no significant increase in self reported DV 2020-22
• Police reported data may not be the most reliable
• until 2021 - DA was not a crime per se - only the acts/behaviours constituting it

Question 5

Yemshaw + Hounslow LBC (2011)

Answer 5

Move away from DA as purely physical violence

Question 6

Korkodeilov (2016) - Stalking def

Answer 6

A “pattern of repeated and unwanted attentions, communications and contracts usually directed and imposed from one person to another in a way that causes distress, fear or alarm”

Question 7

High profile stalking cases

Answer 7

Rana Faruqui (2003)
Hayley Richards (2005)
Shana Grice (2016)

Question 8

Walklate et al. (2018)

Answer 8

-Reliant on police ability to identify this behaviour, elicit info on a series of abusive events from the victim + correctly assess that behaviour, in terms of laying charges. Requires reframing of officers’ approach.

Question 9

Barlow (2020)

Answer 9

91 ABH incidents - In 81% of the cases that involved intimate partners there was evidence of coercive control identifiable through victim witness statements and previous occurrence records detailing repeat victimisation

Question 10

Police officer in Robinson et al. (2016)

Answer 10

“Coercive control? I cant say I’ve ever heard of that expression in real life so i dont know, no idea”

Question 11

s76 Serious Crime Act 2015

Answer 11

Offence of coercive + controlling behaviours

Question 12

R v R (Rape: Marital Exemption) (1992)

Answer 12

Abolished rule that husband cannot be guilty of raping his wife

Question 13

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary + Fire + Rescue Services (2021)

Answer 13

Found “problems, unevenness and inconsistencies” and “staggering variation” in the way DA was dealt with across police forces in End + Wales

Question 14

2016 study on stalking

Answer 14

Many UK victims were disappointed in the way the CJS treated their case + felt they were dismissed not taken seriously.

Question 15

Domestic Abuse Act 2021 - Domestic abuse Protection Notice (DAPN)

Answer 15

• ## Can be issued by police - civil order requiring offender to leave shared home with victim for up to 48 hours

Question 16

Domestic Abuse Act 2021 - Domestic abuse protection order (DAPO)

Answer 16

• issued by magistrates courts following application by police
• DAPO can also be applied for through family court, or court may implement them without request

Question 17

Domestic violence disclosure scheme - Clare’s law

Answer 17

• disclosure must be reasonable/proportionate
• 2021 act takes disclosure from being based on the police’s common law duty to statutory footing
• In year ending Mar 2020 8591 “right to know” applications were applied for in Eng + Wales. 4479 (59%) resulted in disclosure
• in year ending Mar 2020 11556 “right to ask” applications were applied for. 4236(37%) resulted in disclosure