Blog

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to criminalise psychological abuse and coercive control.

Norman Baker

Domestic abuse is already a crime. There are a number of offences that make domestic abuse illegal, including actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and assault. The cross-Government definition is clear that domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.

Assault can extend to non-physical harm, and this can include psychological, financial, and emotional abuse. Stalking and harassment legislation, which criminalises a course of conduct, can apply to intimate partner relationships.

Last September, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a review of the response to domestic abuse across all police forces. HMIC published its findings in March 2014, emphasising that the key priority is a culture change in the police so that domestic violence and abuse is treated as the crime that it is, and pointing out that the police use the full range of tools already available to them.

The Home Secretary will chair a national oversight group to oversee delivery against each of HMIC’s recommendations on which I will also sit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to criminalise patterns of coercive control in domestic violence cases.

Norman Baker

Domestic abuse is already a crime. There are a number of offences that make domestic abuse illegal, including actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm and assault. The cross-Government definition is clear that domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality.

Assault can extend to non-physical harm, and this can include psychological, financial, and emotional abuse. Stalking and harassment legislation, which criminalises a course of conduct, can apply to intimate partner relationships.

Last September, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to conduct a review of the response to domestic abuse across all police forces. HMIC published its findings in March 2014, emphasising that the key priority is a culture change in the police so that domestic violence and abuse is treated as the crime that it is, and pointing out that the police use the full range of tools already available to them.

The Home Secretary will chair a national oversight group to oversee delivery against each of HMIC’s recommendations on which I will also sit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, whether any cases of domestic violence have led to prosecutions for stalking when the stalking behaviours occurred before the victim and perpetrator had separated.

Oliver Heald

The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service do not identify the number of people prosecuted for domestic violence that have led to prosecutions for stalking where the stalking behaviour occurred before the victim and perpetrator had separated. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, whether any domestic violence cases have led to prosecutions for coercive control since the inclusion of coercive control in the Government’s definition of domestic violence in March 2013.

Oliver Heald

The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, how many domestic violence cases have led to prosecutions for non-injurious behaviours.

Oliver Heald

The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Buckland on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Attorney General, how many cases of domestic violence have led to prosecutions for psychological abuse in each of the last five years.

Oliver Heald

The CPS flags all cases identified as domestic violence according to the revised Government definition implemented in March 2013. This includes the elements of coercive control, and behaviours which do not display visible injuries such as psychological abuse which were introduced in the revised definition. However the records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cannot separately identify the number of people prosecuted for each of these elements. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.