Domestic violence law ‘will save lives’
BRITAIN passed “life-saving” domestic abuse legislation last Thursday (29) that campaigners say will protect millions of women, hold more abusers to account, and clamp down harder on revenge porn.
About 2.4 million people, mostly women, experience domestic abuse every year, according to the government.
The legislation comes amid wider efforts to tackle the issue after lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19 left many women trapped at home with violent partners.
“This is a fantastic and ground-breaking day,” Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, said. “The new law will make a huge difference to the lives of millions of domestic abuse victims, and definitely save lives.”
The Domestic Abuse Act establishes a new offence of ‘nonfatal strangulation’, closing a loophole that campaigners say has let some abusers escape justice for choking attacks, which can cause brain damage, strokes and other serious injury. Men who throttle their partners risk five years in jail.
The act also makes it a crime to threaten to share intimate images – or revenge porn – with a prison sentence of up to two years.
Domestic abuse charities said the legislation’s explicit recognition of economic abuse as a form of domestic abuse for the first time was “transformational”. Economic abuse, in which someone may restrict a partner’s access to money and other resources, can prevent them leaving a dangerous relationship.
The new law also stops defendants in murder trials from relying on a defence of “rough sex gone wrong”.
Campaigners said Britain was the first country to outlaw the “rough sex” defence.
Other new provisions include imposing a legal duty on local authorities to provide shelter for abuse victims, a ban on abusers cross-examining victims in family courts and the creation of domestic abuse protection orders.
Home secretary Priti Patel hailed the new law, saying it would ensure “perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes are brought to justice”.
The act – which applies to England and Wales – also establishes the post of domestic abuse commissioner to hold local and national government to account in their handling of an issue that affects an estimated 1.6 million women a year.
Domestic abuse charity Refuge said the legislation, while progressive in many respects, was “far from perfect” and failed to protect many migrants, who cannot access benefits and may be afraid to report abuse to police.
“This is a missed opportunity to ensure all woman experiencing abuse are protected,” said Refuge chief executive Ruth Davison.
It said it was also worried about a £50 million shortfall to finance shelters. (Thomson Reuters Foundation)