Women most at risk in the year after escaping violent abuser

To help protect women from violent partners, there are things that can be done in the long-term but there are things that can happen right now.

One of the best indicators of lethality in a domestic abuse situation is coercive and controlling behaviours.

Scotland has by far the best law around criminalising coercive control.

But generally the risk assessment that is being used across Scotland by police and other partners tends to be insensitive to coercive control. Research done by the College of Policing in England and Wales looked at this. They have tested an improved version of the risk assessment system which is used widely in the UK.

Introducing that is something we should be looking at very carefully in Scotland.

Another thing is that when we talk about these murders as happening in private, that’s a bit of a misconception.

They do happen in private, they most often happen in people’s homes, but people have this assumption that they happen between people who are still in a relationship and living together.

But actually they often happen in the victim’s home but that doesn’t mean the perpetrator was living there.

The time women are most likely to be killed is some time in the year after they try to leave the relationship.

So often our systems say okay, she’s in a refuge or he’s moved out, the family are safe, so they walk away and do something else. Then the longer-term issues have to do with two big things. Women are not always confident to go to police.

If they have children they know a report will be made to social work, so they’re at risk of having their children removed even though there’s nothing they’ve done. That has a hugely chilling effect on women’s ability to disclose. But also there’s the salami-slicing of budgets at local level.

We’ve just completed a funding survey and it’s very obvious to us that the trend we’ve seen over the last five years is continuing. More than 50%, and probably up to 70%, of our services have seen cuts which have meant that they’ve had to let staff go, they’ve got waiting lists, a whole series of things that mean that women will have less support and protection.

The final thing is that domestic abuse is a cause and consequence of women’s inequality. Women’s choices are greatly constrained by being poor, by not having much power and by being unrepresented at those tables which decide whether childcare is going to be available and whether local services are going to be cut.

The longer-term fix is to pay attention to delivering better equality. If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.

Marsha Scott is CEO of Scottish Women’s Aid