Domestic Violence

S.1 of The Domestic Violence, Crimes and Victims Act 2004 (DVCVA), which came into force on 1st July 2007 introduced a fundamental change in the method by which breaches of non-molestation orders obtained under the Family Law Act of 1996 (FLA) are to be enforced. The section amended the provisions of section 42 of the FLA by inserting a new section 42A into that Act.

A leading article by Frances Gibb and Richard Ford, appearing in “The Times” newspaper on 14th April 2008 stated the following:

“Thousands of women are at risk of assault because new laws to curb domestic violence have backfired, deterring victims from seeking help, The Times has learnt.

  

Since legislation [DVCVA] was introduced in July to criminalise domestic abuse at least 5,000 women have failed to report violent partners, judges have claimed.”

The same article went on to point out the following:

“….battered wives, and sometimes husbands, are reluctant to seek an order for fear of giving their partners a criminal record and, potentially, a prison sentence of up to five years.

The judges’ concerns have prompted talks at the highest level between Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, and Sir Mark Potter, President of the Family Division. The alarm was raised by both circuit judges and the Association of District Judges, whose members deal with domestic violence cases.

A spokesman for Sir Mark said: ‘The President is very concerned that, for whatever reason, the legislation appears to have led to a reduction rather than an increase in the protection afforded to victims of domestic violence as a result of the change of the law.’”

“Judge John Platt, a circuit judge with more than 20 years’ experience of domestic violence cases, has drawn up a report reflecting the judges’ views for the president. He told The Times that he estimated that the number of [mostly] women seeking non – molestation orders had fallen by between 25 and 30 per cent since July 2007.

Judges were doing their own informal surveys and ‘every judge I have spoken to thinks there has been a drop’, he said. In 2006 there had been 20,000 such applications – so a 25 per cent drop meant 5,000 women had not come forward to ask for the court’s protection. ‘Obviously this is a very worrying figure. Either offenders have changed their behaviour – which seems extremely unlikely – or the victims do not want to criminalise the perpetrators.’ Victims in a close relationship with a violent partner, who was perhaps the father of their children and the bread-winner, would not want them to have a criminal record, he added. ‘It’s human nature.’”

The article concluded by stating that:

“The Crown Prosecution Service denied that prosecutions had dropped. A spokesman said that the most recent figures showed that both numbers of cases and the conviction rate were up on previous years.” These concerns, expressed on behalf of relevant members of the judiciary, and the statistics raised by Judge Platt appear to bear out the concerns, worries and misgivings  expressed by a number of  family lawyers and practitioners.