COMMENT

of the Procurator Fiscal Service and specialist support services, like Women’s Aid Scotland. A joint protocol means all incidents of domestic abuse are given high priority and recognises that women are disproportionately affected by it. The law acknowledges the very particular psychological damage caused in intimate relationships where controlling and coercive behaviours are used over a period of time by one partner to subject the other to their will. Compared to the few nations that have created domestic abuse offences, Scotland has created a simpler law which will be easier prosecute, dispensing with any requirement to prove the victim has experienced suffering. It seems clear that Scotan land is determined to get it right on domestic abuse. Having had a consultation on creating a discrete domestic abuse offence, Northern Ireland’s authorities will be looking closely at how Scotland implements its new law. A committed application would see Northern Ireland following suit. Since 2015 England and Wales have had few successful prosecutions for controlling and coercive behaviour in intimate family relationship. Media reports overwhelmingly show that convictions in cases where victims are controlled and coerced through psychological methods alone remain problematic. This is where the Scottish prosecuting authorities can lead the way. The new domestic abuse offence explicitly places physical, psychological and sexual violence on the same footing. All are equally as serious and can form part of an abusive pattern of behaviour. Scotland focuses on the relationship of partners or ex-partners regardless of co-habitation, compared to England and Wales where ex-partners no longer co-habiting fall outside the offence.

This carefully considered offence is what the world needs and the Scottish authorities must work together to make it a success. If so, where Scotland succeeds the world may follow.

“The new domestic abuse offence places physical, psychological and sexual violence on the same footing. All are equally as serious. ”