New law to crack down on abusers
DOMESTIC abusers will face prosecution even without evidence of violent crime under radical new proposals.
A planned offence of ‘domestic abuse’ will see offenders targeted for other forms of injury, such as psychological intimidation.
Police and prosecutors say the law is needed for cases where the spouse has been victimised in other ways.
Police Scotland chief constable Sir Stephen House said: ‘If the legislation is written in such a way that the whole course of conduct can lead up to and contribute to an offence of domestic abuse, we would support that.’
Scottish Women’s Aid said it ‘welcomed the support voiced for consideration of specialist legislation’ and the plans were a ‘matter of considerable importance to women experiencing domestic abuse’.
NEW legislation will crack down on domestic abusers even when t here i s no evidence that they have committed a violent crime.
Police Scotland chief constable Sir Stephen House said domestic abusers would face being prosecuted f or nonviolent behaviour.
The planned offence, which has the backing of top prosecutors, is aimed at curbing the psychological i ntimidation of spouses and partners.
But last night there were fears over possible miscarriages of justice, as the allegations would be harder t o corroborate t han physical injuries. There was also
‘Proper safeguards’
concern that a specific offence of ‘domestic abuse’ to criminalise non-violent injury was unnecessary, along with calls for tougher enforcement of existing laws.
Last night, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Margaret Mitchell said: ‘It is paradoxical to encourage the criminalisation of patterns of behaviour within the context of domestic abuse and also seek the removal of corroboration [where allegations must be backed up by two sources of evidence, which the SNP wants to axe].
‘Seeking to protect victims of domestic abuse is commendable but it must be backed up by proper safeguards and firm sentencing.’
Sir Stephen – who admits ‘you wouldn’t get a fag paper between Police Scotland and the Crown in terms of their view on domestic abuse’ – says he supports new legislation, called for by Solicitor General Lesley Thomson, to make domestic abuse a specific offence.
He said: ‘It’s not just that a man hits his partner, but he might not allow her money, or he takes her pay packet. She may not be allowed access to her mum or her mobile or he might check her mobile every night to make sure she’s not been phoning anyone he doesn’t want her to speak to.
‘He could follow her, or bombard her with texts every day. Some of that falls into harassment which of course is a crime in itself.
‘But the general state of the relationship, where it deteriorates into feelings of fear and intimidation, is much more difficult for us to factualise – we can’t turn that into fact.
‘If the legislation is written in such a way that the whole course of conduct can lead up to and contribute to an offence of domestic abuse, we would support that.’
Prosecutors want to adopt tough new European-style laws to tackle a rising tide of domestic abuse.
They are studying legislation from Sweden and France which makes it possible to prosecute partners whose abuse stops short of physical violence.
It would allow prosecutors to convict non-violent abusers and they would have to establish
It’s not just that a man hits his partner but he might not allow her money, she may not be allowed access to her mum or mobile
patterns of abusive behaviour. But the offences may not require corroboration in court, a proposed change in the rules of evidence that has already sparked criticism.
Police recorded 60,080 incidents of domestic abuse in Scotland last year, up from 59,847 in the previous year. However, incidents are often significantly under-reported.
Scottish Women’s Aid said it ‘welcomed the support voiced for consideration of specialist legislation in relation to domestic abuse.’ A spokesman said: ‘ The l aw currently looks at domestic abuse on an isolated, incident by incident basis and treats them as a series of minor assaults. It cannot take into account the controlling behaviour at the heart of domestic abuse, the impact and the harm it causes.
‘It’s time to think about legislation that looks beyond physical violence or damage to property and takes into account the intimidation and control, psychological, financial and emotional abuse that often takes place over years and, sometimes, decades.
‘This is a matter of considerable importance to women experiencing domestic abuse.’
At present, there is no specific offence of domestic abuse and offenders are instead prosecuted for crimes such as rape or assault.
France introduced a law in 2010 relating to ‘psychological violence’ against spouses and partners.
Sweden criminalises the ‘gross violation of a woman’s integrity’.