Should there be a separate offence of Domestic Violence?

[Scarletohello]

According to this article David Cameron is considering creating a specific offence of domestic violence ( as opposed to common assault, abh, gbh etc) which takes into account the controlling and abusive pattern of dv.

I think it is potentially a good idea as Dv is not just violence but the violence is the main thing that is prosecuted. However it would have to involve the police and other criminal justice agencies being properly trained in how to recognise and deal with Dv cases and all the complexities involved. What do people think, is it a good idea?

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/25/david-cameron-consider-new-domestic-violence-offence

[Scarletohello]

www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/25/david-cameron-consider-new-domestic-violence-offence

[ApocalypseNowt]

The cynical part of me thinks this is Dave doing a bit of PR before the election as his and the tories standing with women is very low.

Hasn't funding for rape and crisis centres, etc been drastically cut under this government? Along with the changes to the social system I think women fleeing DV have got it even harder now than they used to. This worries and angers me more tbh.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Interesting idea although I wonder how you'd satisfactorily prove controlling behaviour in a domestic setting. Just judging by the regular crop of 'is this normal?' threads on this board, even the victims don't recognise the patterns a lot of the time. Control is so often in the mind of the victim.... e.g the door to the cage is wide open but they are too frightened to walk through. The main hurdle, it seems to me, is not the lack of laws but the reluctance of victims to report the crime or prosecute the criminal.

[ApocalypseNowt]

Can the prosecution service not already take into account controlling behaviour when prosecuting under the existing offences? I thought they could?

I think the tools to prosecute are already there - it's more a case of using and adjusting people's attitudes to DV.

[Anniegetyourgun]

Don't forget the withdrawal of legal aid for many purposes including divorces unless they involve physical violence. If he means to reinstate it, that's a step back in the right direction after three steps in the wrong one - but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[GretchenWiener]

It's already aggravated if in a domestic context. This is pure electioneering

[Scarletohello]

Yes it does seem to have come out of nowhere and is in contradiction to their policy of cutting services to dv victims,which are actually more important IMO.

I guess the think tanks are cottoning onto the fact that many women are not going to be voting Tory at the next election, due to them having been more affected by the 'austerity' policies.

But..I still think this could be a good thing as Dv is about so much more than a physical assault and at the moment that's all the courts can prosecute for.

[FatalCabbage]

I think it's a bad plan.

Splitting DV out from other assault and battery offences.declares.that it isn't the same. Now, whilst we might agree that that is true, the fact remains that in the.public.consciousness.it is different because it is less of an offence. By pursuing - and securing - convictions for "proper" violent offences, we send the message that violence against a partner or family member is just as unacceptable as violence against a.stranger.

(apologies for odd punctuation - twatphone wants to speak alien for some unknown reason and keeps gluing.words together. Argh)

[ApocalypseNowt]

I agree with FatalCabbage - it's a really good point. Splitting it out marks DV as 'other' iykwim.

[cod]

Agree with le cabbage

[GertieFinkle]

Yes fatal cabbage I agree.

David Cameron is just campaigning. The courts already take domestic violence as a more serious offence. A common assault (for example one punch) is a more serious offence if it done in a domestic violence setting. Magistrates courts have one day a week assigned to domestic violence (a DV court) where there (usually) a trained domestic violence support officer.

If you look at the sentencing guidelines for common assault here and scroll down to commons assault, under the factors defining greater harm (victim vulnerable because of personal circumstances - ie in domestic setting where there is no escape) and many of the factors which make an offence more serious (next page) there are plenty of things which show that magistrates consider if an offence takes place in a domestic setting (or to a partner/child/family member) then it is very serious.

Of course many people won't know this which is what Cameron is counting on, trying to get women's votes (although there are many male victims of DV I still think this is perceived as a women's problem).

What an arse.

[GertieFinkle]

Ps is that you Cod or an imposter?!

[weegiemum]

I wonder if it would end up like driving offences. Causing "death/injury by dangerous driving" I think carries a lower sentence than murder/manslaughter/assault. But IMO if you go out and drive dangerously on purpose, you are intending to cause injury. DV should be prosecuted more easily using existing laws, and the abysmal withdrawal of funding to DV services restored.

[cod]

Coughs

[bonzo77]

I really know nothing about DV, politics or the law (apart from what I learn on MN). However, I think that making it a new crime differentiates it from existing ones, and has the potential to minimise it. It would be like rape by a stranger in an alleyway being a different crime (with a different punishment) from rape in your home by your partner. Indeed that never used to be a crime. I think it's a step back, that the focus needs to be on using existing law to recognise DA for what it is, report it, investigate, prosecute and punish just like crime involving strangers.

[GertieFinkle]

I think you initially view it as if some stranger off the street did it and then you escalate the seriousness when sentencing because of the targeting of a particular victim, their vulnerability to victimisation by that particular defendant because of their relationship to them. There doesn't need to be a separate offence unless you are categorically certain that magistrates and judges are unable to understand the seriousness of domestic violence. If that is the case then (Mr Cameron) you need to fire all your judges and magistrates and start again. Good luck with that one.

[AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore]

IMO it's taking us back YEARS... I can hear it now... "it wasn't assault, it was just a domestic..."

No, this is NOT a good idea IMO. Maybe they should just stop cutting funding to services that actually DO help fight domestic violence??

[AuntieStella]

The Labour Party is talking extensively about this today.

Are they aping the Tories again? Or is politics now a matter of inter-Party spying and spoiler?