Domestic violence laws will now criminalise mental torment, mind games and money controls too and laws will be applied to those aged under 18 read the headline on the Mail Online.
Men who verbally abuse and control the finances of their victims along with isolating them from family and friends are now being seen as abusers of domestic violence and could finally face prosecution.
I for one am over joyed to see the characteristics of domestic violence widened to include emotional and financial abuse. All threatening behavior needs to be including to fully define the definition of domestic violence.
Domestic violence is usually perceived as acts of violence, finally the police and prosecutors will be given a new insight when conducting their work in this area.
Men who abuse women in any form should be held accountable for and face punishment.
This new rule will also apply to those under the age of 18, this will be the very first time this law has ever been activated. There have been growing concerns in the increase of abuse received by young girls, who find themselves in abusive relationships.
No man should ever abuse a women, no matter their age and this new law is warmly welcomed.
There has never been a specific criminal offense of domestic violence. Instead, ministers agreed a definition in 2004 that refers to ‘incidents of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse’. The Government is concerned that the police and other agencies are not applying this broadly enough.
The Centre for Social Justice, a think-tank set up by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, has led calls for ‘coercive control’ to be included in official definitions of domestic abuse, and wants to see prosecutions even if no physical harm has been caused. Mail Online
The new definition will not be written into law, however, as the CSJ has proposed. Instead it will be broadened to define domestic violence as ‘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’.
The definition will include so-called ‘honour’ attacks, female genital mutilation and forced marriage, and make it clear that victims are not confined to one gender. According to recent Home Office statistics, 7 per cent of women and 5 per cent of men reported that they had experienced domestic violence.
We hope to raise awareness that domestic violence and abuse does not just encompass physical abuse but can also include coercion and control.’
I would like to see this made law, with no mistakes being made a clear and precise law that states no man or women can control, harass, emotionally, physically or sexually abuse their partner. That any relationship should be free of any form of threats, mind games or fear.
We are slowly starting to see positive changes being made to raise awareness of domestic violence and prosecute the abusers who wreck so many lives. But I still feel we have a long way to go.
What are your views of the new proposed changes?
