Comment
Rape is not prohibited by the law, it is regulated
Earlier this week, the Victims' Commissioner Dame Vera Baird QC decried the “catastrophic” decline in prosecutions for rape.
News
Dame Vera Baird QC on domestic violence
Earlier this week, the Victims' Commissioner, Dame Vera Baird QC, was in the news, arguing that there had been a "catastrophic" decline in rape prosecutions.
Comment
Domestic abuse interventions: a history of neglect amidst growing need
The lockdown has led to a greater volume of calls to domestic abuse helplines, causing fears that its rigours are making discord and violence more intense and prevalent.
Comment
Domestic violence prosecutions clumsy and costly
Everyone involved in domestic abuse wants to stop it. But there is huge disagreement about how to do so. Many campaigners feel that domestic abuse would stop if all incidents were prosecuted, if...
Publication
Disclosing domestic violence
In November 2013 the Home Secretary announced that from March 2014 the ‘right to ask’ and ‘right to know’ strands of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (the Scheme) would be operated nationally under existing police common law powers. The Scheme sees the police proactively (right to know) and...
News
Violent crime. Up for women, down for men
Bookings are now open for this year's Eve Saville memorial lecture, to be delivered by Professor Sylvia Walby, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and UNESCO Chair in Gender Research at Lancaster University.
At the lecture, in London on 12 April, Professor Walby will present ground-...
News
1.2 million women face sexual and physical abuse
A new report estimates that one in 20 women in England have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse, reports The Telegraph. The report by Agenda,...
Comment
What's this got to do with violence against women?
My current mantra when training professionals in responding to domestic and sexual violence is ‘if you think a client is ‘difficult’, ‘hostile’ or to use the standard...
News
Ineffective police response towards domestic violence
A critical report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary says that victims of domestic violence faced a 'lottery' in the way they are treated. Theresa May, Home Secretary, has called for a 'radical change', saying that she would chair a group to consider the findings of the report,...