Domestic abuse news roundup: w/c 27th February 2023

👮🏾‍♂️ Refuge responds to Home Office announcements on domestic abuse perpetrators

The most dangerous domestic abusers are to be put on the violent and sex offender register. This is a proposed law change so abusers are monitored more closely by the Police, Prison and Probation Services. For the first time violence against women and girls will have to be treated by police as seriously as serious organised crime, terrorism and child abuse, and coercive control is to be given equivalent priority as physical violence.

In response, national domestic abuse service, Refuge, said “Women’s confidence in police is very low, 4 in 5 people don’t report it to the police. CPS statistics from police referrals, CPS charges and prosecutions has significantly decreased in 2020-2021. The system is failing survivors and new measures won’t fix this.”

⚖️ Justice Secretary urged to guarantee better protection for women in family courts

Family Courts are failing survivors of domestic abuse according to 28 leading women’s charities, solicitors and survivors. They’ve signed and delivered a letter to Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab, urging him to stop perpetrators being able to cross examine their survivors in court. The ban of this practice was introduced in 2017 but only legislated last year in July 2022.

This part of the Domestic Abuse Act only applies to new cases, so thousands of women already in the system are not protected. Also too few legal professionals take on this kind of cross examination and there hasn’t been any monitoring to ensure the mandatory ban has been adopted. Family Courts are traumatising and this is made worse if survivors can be interrogated by their abuser in court. It requires a process that is sensitive to trauma and helps maintain the safety of survivors.

🖼️ Banksy’s Valentine’s Day Mascara artwork to be relocated to Margate’s Dreamland

On Valentine’s Day a Banksy Mural appeared on the side of a house in Margate. The name of the piece was Valentine’s Day Mascara and the theme was violence against women and girls. In the artwork a real freezer was used as part of the piece but the council removed the freezer on the grounds of safety. The artwork has since been dismantled various times so the decision was made to locate it to Dreamland.

The homeowner where Banksy painted the mural wishes for local domestic abuse charity Oasis to benefit and to increase awareness of domestic abuse both in Margate and nationally.

Your weekly domestic abuse news round up was curated by SATEDA’s volunteer Ellie Arnott 

Sources: The Guardian, Kent Online, BBC News, Refuge, familylaw.co.uk, gov.uk