8th August 2014

Domestic Violence Law Reform Campaign

Women's Aid is currently working in partnership with the Sara Charlton Charitable Foundation and Paladin to campaign for a new law that criminalises coercive control, psychological abuse and a pattern of domestic violence.

The laws used to prosecute domestic violence – including assault, burglary, damage to property, breach of a restraining order, rape, kidnapping and murder – do not address its essence: power and control. Current legislation largely reinforces an approach based on incidents, rather than considering the pattern of coercive control as detailed in the cross-government definition of domestic violence, and there is no mechanism for capturing patterns of power and control within an ongoing relationship. The totality of the behaviour and the non-physical manifestations of power and control that define an abusive relationship are not recognised in criminal law.

Recent research published by Women’s Aid found that coercive and controlling behaviours and psychological abuse are all too common experiences for women survivors of domestic violence. Their survey of survivors using refuge and non-refuge services found that:

• 80.4% of women in refuges and 85.6% of women using non-refuge services had experienced emotional abuse;


• 57.4% of women in refuges and 49.7% of women using non-refuge services had experienced financial abuse[1].

Yet the current legislative framework fails to recognise these women’s experiences.

With recent announcements from the Prime Minister and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP saying that both the current Government and the Labour party are looking at improving the law on domestic violence, the campaign continues to gather momentum. Please continue to support the campaign by writing to your MP highlighting the need for a law change.