A report examined how services for victims of domestic violence in Northern Ireland could be improved. It stressed the importance of developing a multi-agency approach.
Source: Deloitte MCS Limited, Feasibility Study on One Stop Shop for Domestic Violence, Northern Ireland Office (028 9052 0700)
Links: Report | NIO press release
Date: 2006-Dec
An official advisory body published (following consultation) final guidelines on sentencing in cases of domestic violence. Offences committed in a domestic context should be regarded as being no less serious than offences committed in a non-domestic context. A proposal that those found guilty of violence could get a community order or suspended sentence where they showed 'genuine signs of remorse' was dropped.
Source: Overarching Principles: Domestic Violence - Definitive Guideline, Sentencing Guidelines Council (020 7411 5551)
Links: Guidance | Consultation responses
Date: 2006-Dec
The government announced plans under which every council in England would offer women with violent partners a 'safe room' in their home.
Source: Press release 19 December 2006, Department for Communities and Local Government (020 7944 3000)
Links: DCLG press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Dec
A report examined government efforts to join up work on violence against women. It highlighted a continuing lack of cross-department working, inadequate resources, and a lack of measurable targets.
Source: Making the Grade? The second annual independent analysis of government initiatives on violence against women, Amnesty International UK (020 7814 6241) for End Violence Against Women Campaign
Links: Report | Amnesty press release | BBC report
Date: 2006-Nov
A paper said that the inclusion of initiatives to address domestic violence within local area agreements had been successful in improving responses - by enhancing partnership working, pooling resources and encouraging co-ordination.
Source: Work to Address Domestic Violence and Local Area Agreements: Where does it fit?, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Date: 2006-Nov
A Member of Parliament introduced a Bill which called for an offence of 'liability for suicide', particularly in connexion with those guilty of domestic abuse.
Source: Liability for Suicide Bill, Iain Duncan Smith MP, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2006-Oct
The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court ruling that expert witnesses should be exempt from disciplinary action by their regulatory body. The issue was raised by the case of a paediatrician who was struck off after giving flawed evidence at the trial of a woman accused of the murder of her sons.
Source: General Medical Council v Professor Sir Roy Meadow, Court of Appeal 26 October 2006
Links: Text of judgement | GMC press release | Times report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Oct
A report highlighted best practice aimed at strengthening police enforcement work on domestic violence, and informing wider government work on the issue.
Source: Lessons Learned from the Domestic Violence Enforcement Campaigns 2006, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Home Office press release
Date: 2006-Oct
The Chief Medical Officer for England published proposals for reforming the delivery of medical expert evidence in family law cases. The key proposal was for the National Health Service to establish a new service - teams of specialist doctors and other professionals in local NHS organizations who would group together to improve the quality of the service by introducing mentoring, supervision, and peer review.
Source: Bearing Good Witness: Proposals for reforming the delivery of medical expert evidence in family law cases, Chief Medical Officer/Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: CMO report | Statistical survey | Consultation document | Hansard | DH press release | OCC press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Times report
Date: 2006-Oct
An article examined the role of feminist community activism and academic research in the context of contemporary crime reduction policy, drawing on evaluation studies of community responses to domestic violence against women.
Source: Lorraine Radford and Aisha Gill, 'Losing the plot? Researching community safety partnership work against domestic violence', Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 45 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Sep
A research study examined the ways in which women experiencing domestic abuse sought help on behalf of themselves and their children. It found that there were still many barriers to women seeking help.
Source: Paula Nicolson, Caroline O Keeffe, Louise Brenard, Jenny Powell and Maureen Storey, Domestic Abuse: Women Seeking Help, School of Health and Related Research/University of Sheffield (0114 222 5454) and Sheffield Domestic Abuse Forum
Links: Summary | Guardian report | Times report
Date: 2006-Aug
A United Nations report said that as many as 1 in 14 children in the United Kingdom might receive poor exam results because of the effects of domestic violence at home. Children might suffer from a range of effects including low self-esteem, aggression, and adjustment problems. Young people who grew up with violence were more likely to be abused themselves, and might suffer some of the same behavioural problems as direct victims.
Source: Behind Closed Doors: The impact of domestic violence on children, UNICEF UK (020 7405 5592) and Body Shop International
Links: Report | UNICEF press release | Turning Point press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Aug
An article examined the development of social care practice in relation to child witnesses of domestic violence. It said that there were a number of important reasons why child witnesses of domestic violence should not always be assumed to need the response of a child protection system; and that a future practice, legal, and policy response should be based on a wider understanding of their needs.
Source: Mark Rivett and Shaun Kelly, 'From awareness to practice: children, domestic violence and child welfare', Child Abuse Review, Volume 15 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Aug
An article examined the treatment of domestic violence victims in the mode of trial hearing. Compared with similar offences, cases of domestic violence were more likely to be disposed of in the magistrates court rather than the Crown Court.
Source: Steven Cammiss, 'The management of domestic violence cases in the mode of trial hearing: prosecutorial control and marginalizing victims', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 46 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jul
An article examined the complexities involved in distinguishing infanticide from sudden infant death syndrome and other sudden unexplained deaths in infancy. It considered ways in which infant deaths might be investigated more effectively.
Source: Fiona Brookman and Jane Nolan, 'The dark figure of infanticide in England and Wales', Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Volume 21 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jul
A progress report was published on the implementation of the national plan for tackling domestic violence.
Source: National Domestic Violence Delivery Plan: Progress Report 2005/06, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report | Hansard | Home Office press release
Date: 2006-Jun
A report by a committee of MPs criticized draft sentencing guidelines which said that domestic violence offenders should be sent on anger management programmes, instead of to prison, if they showed remorse.
Source: Draft Sentencing Guidelines: Overarching Principles - Domestic Violence and Breach of a Protective Order, Third Report (Session 2005-06), HC 1231, House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Womens Aid press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
Guidance was published which focused on ways of improving outcomes for children affected by domestic violence. It took as its starting point the need to give priority to the safety of the child and non-abusing parent at all times.
Source: Vision for Services for Children and Young People Affected by Domestic Violence, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Guidance
Date: 2006-May
An article examined user participation in domestic violence services, and the extent to which the voices of domestic violence survivors were heard in policy and service development.
Source: Gill Hague and Audrey Mullender, 'Who listens? The voices of domestic violence survivors in service provision in the United Kingdom', Violence Against Women, Volume 12 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-May
An article examined the relationship between researchers and activist services (such as Women's Aid) in the field of domestic violence.
Source: Nicola Harwin, 'Putting a stop to domestic violence in the United Kingdom: challenges and opportunities', Violence Against Women, Volume 12 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-May
A report presented the key findings from the 2004-05 British Crime Survey on partner abuse (non-sexual), family abuse (non-sexual), sexual assault, and stalking. It examined the extent of intimate violence, multiple victimization, the victim-offender relationship, and the demographic, socio-economic, and lifestyle factors associated with risk of victimization.
Source: Andrea Finney, Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking: Findings from the 2004/05 British Crime Survey, Online Report 12/06, Home Office (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-May
An article said that lower levels of foetal growth and shorter gestational duration were associated with increased likelihood of child abuse in all categories including sexual abuse, independent of maternal age or socio-economic status.
Source: Nick Spencer, Ann Wallace, Ratna Sundrum, Claire Bacchus and Stuart Logan, 'Child abuse registration, fetal growth, and preterm birth: a population based study', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 60 Number 4
Links: Abstract | BBC report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined how human rights could be used to compel an approach to cases of domestic violence which required state action to protect those harmed by abuse.
Source: Shazia Choudhry, 'Righting domestic violence', International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, Volume 20 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
An article examined the evidence on the relevance of gender to the prevalence and impacts of sexual abuse in childhood.
Source: Carol-Ann Hooper and Ian Warwick, 'Gender and the politics of service provision for adults with a history of childhood sexual abuse', Critical Social Policy, Volume 26 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Apr
An official advisory body published draft guidelines on sentencing in cases of domestic violence. Offences committed in a domestic context should be regarded as being no less serious than offences committed in a non-domestic context. But those found guilty of violence could get a community order or suspended sentence where they showed "genuine signs of remorse", or where both partners wanted to stay together.
Source: Overarching Principles: Domestic Violence - Consultation guideline, Sentencing Advisory Panel (020 7035 5158)
Links: Guidelines | SAP press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
An article analyzed the implications of masculinity for policies and practices aimed at reducing violence by men against known women. Masculinity was generated through relations between men, and domestic violence might be a means of regulating those relations: addressing relations between men was therefore likely to be critical to the effectiveness of relevant programmes.
Source: Jeff Hearn and Antony Whitehead, 'Collateral damage: men s domestic violence to women seen through men s relations with men', Probation Journal, Volume 53 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Mar
A report (by a senior judge) assessed whether the courts and judiciary had been in any way to blame in a number of cases where children had been killed by their fathers at the end of their parents' relationships. It recommended further examination of the approach which the courts should adopt to proposed consent orders in contact cases where domestic violence was in issue. It said that no judge should sit for the first time in private law proceedings without having undergone training which included multi-disciplinary instruction on domestic violence.
Source: Nicholas Wall (Lord Justice of Appeal), A Report to the President of the Family Division on the Publication by the Women s Aid Federation of England Entitled 'Twenty-Nine Child Homicides: Lessons still to be learnt on domestic violence and child protection' with Particular Reference to the Five Cases in which there was Judicial Involvement, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Mar
The High Court ruled (in a child protection case) that expert witnesses giving evidence in court must be immune from any disciplinary action, save in exceptional circumstances.
Source: Meadow v. General Medical Council, High Court 17 February 2006
Links: Text of judgement | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2006-Feb
A new book examined how to work safely and sensitively with children living with domestic violence.
Source: Cathy Humphreys and Nicky Stanley (eds.), Domestic Violence and Child Protection: Directions for good practice, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Feb
The Attorney General announced, following a review, that just 3 out of 88 'shaken baby syndrome' convictions might give rise to some concerns.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 14 February 2006, columns 95-97WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | AGO press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Feb
A report examined how existing law and policy relating to violence against women in England and Wales measured up to United Kingdom commitments under international law. Recent policy developments had 'significantly improved' the framework within which violence against women was addressed.
Source: Measuring Up? UK compliance with international commitments on violence against women in England and Wales, Rights of Women
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
An article reported the findings of a qualitative study of the politicization of domestic violence as it related to the experiences of disabled survivors. There were widespread discrepancies in the definition of domestic violence experienced by disabled people.
Source: Jennifer Nixon, 'Defining the issue: the intersection of domestic abuse and disability', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
A report examined the impact and possible causes of aggressive behaviour by children and young people. Mothers appeared to take the brunt of their children's aggressive behaviour, though it spilled out to affect all family members. Aggressive behaviour was reported in children of all ages, but peaked with teenagers aged 13-15. Parents facing aggression from their children often felt desperate, isolated, helpless, ashamed, and out of control.
Source: Aggressive Behaviour in Children: Parents' experiences and needs, Parentline Plus (020 7284 5500)
Links: Report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report evaluated the effectiveness of interventions relevant to healthcare for reducing violence against, or improving the physical and psycho-social well-being of, women who had experienced or were experiencing partner violence.
Source: Jean Ramsay, Carol Rivas and Gene Feder, Interventions to Reduce Violence and Promote the Physical and Psychosocial Well-being of Women who Experience Partner Violence: A systematic review of controlled evaluations, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Jan
A series of articles examined national (and international) responses to gendered violence against women.
Source: Social Policy and Society, Volume 5 Issue 1
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2006-Jan