An article said that men and women with mental health disorders, across all diagnoses, were more likely to have experienced domestic violence than the general population.
Source: Kylee Trevillion, Sian Oram, Gene Feder, and Louise Howard, 'Experiences of domestic violence and mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis', PLoS ONE
Links: Article | Abstract | Bristol University press release
Date: 2012-Dec
A study examined the effectiveness of different interventions designed to support women who wanted to leave prostitution. The vast majority of those who wanted to leave prostitution were able to do so relatively quickly when they received appropriate support. Having a criminal conviction was identified as a major barrier to exiting: 49 per cent of the women surveyed had criminal convictions for prostitution-related offences. Violence from buyers was frequently reported as a motivating factor for women to exit from prostitution: 61 per cent of women in the sample reported experiences of violence from buyers of sexual services.
Source: Julie Bindel, Laura Brown, Helen Easton, Roger Matthews, and Lisa Reynolds, Breaking Down the Barriers: A study of how women exit prostitution, Eaves/London South Bank University
Links: Report | Eaves press release | AVA press release
Date: 2012-Dec
The Council of the European Union called for co-ordinated policies to combat and eliminate all forms of violence against women. It invited the European Parliament, European Commission, and member states to ensure appropriate and sustainable funding for the provision of support services for victims of domestic violence.
Source: Council Conclusions on Combating Violence Against Women, and the Provision of Support Services for Victims of Domestic Violence, European Union
Links: Conclusions
Date: 2012-Dec
A new book provided those working in social work and related professions with up-to-date coverage of the major issues pertaining to violence against women. It suggested ways to tackle the rise in violence against women by translating knowledge into effective training and practice.
Source: Nancy Lombard and Lesley McMillan (eds), Violence against Women: Current theory and practice in domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Dec
The Welsh Government began consultation on policy and legislative proposals aimed at ending violence against women, domestic abuse, and sexual violence.
Source: Consultation on Legislation to End Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales), Welsh Government
Links: Consultation document | Summary
Date: 2012-Nov
A report examined the experiences of women and legal professionals in relation to the law, policy, and practice in child contact proceedings. It supported studies revealing that women continued to have negative experiences of the family justice system's response to domestic violence, and called for significant change. Coalition government plans to prioritize 'shared parenting' could worsen the situation for many abused partners.
Source: Maddy Coy, Katherine Perks, Emma Scott, and Ruth Tweedale, Picking up the Pieces: Domestic violence and child contact, Rights of Women/CWASU
Links: Report | Guardian report | Womensgrid report
Date: 2012-Nov
A report said that 'high risk' domestic abuse services were saving lives and a significant amount of public money, despite being seriously under-resourced.
Source: A Place of Greater Safety, Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined some of the ways in which heterosexual women were portrayed as perpetrators of intimate partner domestic violence in police domestic violence records in England. Women were 3 times more likely than men to be arrested when they were construed as the perpetrator.
Source: Marianne Hester, 'Portrayal of women as intimate partner domestic violence perpetrators', Violence Against Women, Volume 18 Number 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Oct
A report presented findings from a scoping study on violence against women, commissioned to help inform the BIG Lottery Fund of potential areas of intervention. The study sought to identify evidence on the following broad issues: domestic violence linked to sporting events; violence among girls and young women involved in gang-related activities; and domestic violence in pregnancy.
Source: Jude Bennington, Sadie Parr, Ryan Powell, and Kesia Reeve, Scoping Study on Violence Against Women: Report for the BIG Lottery Fund, Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Research (Sheffield Hallam University)
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Oct
A report said that police forces should make the prevention, detection, and investigation of officers abusing their powers for sexual exploitation a higher priority.
Source: The Abuse of Police Powers to Perpetrate Sexual Violence, Independent Police Complaints Commission/Association of Chief Police Officers
Links: Report | IPCC press release | ACPO press release | Rape Crisis press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Sep
A new book examined the ways in which new feminist arguments and campaigns around pornography were articulated, deployed, and received.
Source: Julia Long, Anti-Porn: The resurgence of anti-pornography feminism, Zed Books
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Sep
The coalition government announced (following consultation) that the official definition of domestic violence would be extended to include people aged 16 and 17. It would also include 'coercive control', as opposed to a single act or incident, in recognition of the fact that patterns of behaviour and separate instances of control could add up to abuse – including instances of intimidation, isolation, depriving victims of their financial independence or material possessions, and regulating their everyday behaviour.
Source: Press release 19 September 2012, Office of Deputy Prime Minister
Links: DPM press release | Conservative Party press release | ACPO press release | Action for Children press release | EVAW press release | 4Children press release | Labour Party press release | NFWI press release | NUT press release | OCC press release | Platform51 press release | Relate press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Sep
A report examined the ways in which domestic abuse entrapped people through fear. It said that domestic abuse could be considered a form of everyday terrorism. It created long-lasting fear and trauma, which reinforced the abuser's control over the abused person. It affected vastly greater numbers of people than global terrorism, and it had impacts on many aspects of society as well as on the individual. The frequency and prolonged nature of domestic abuse, the psychological aspects of this control, and the setting in which domestic abuse took place, all helped to explain these higher levels of fear and trauma.
Source: Rachel Pain, Everyday Terrorism: How fear works in domestic abuse, Centre for Social Justice and Community Action (Durham University)/Scottish Women s Aid
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Aug
An article examined primary care clinicians' levels of knowledge, attitudes, and clinical skills in relation to domestic violence. Clinicians' attitudes towards women experiencing domestic violence were generally found to be positive, but they only had basic knowledge of the area. Both family doctors and practice nurses needed more comprehensive training on assessment and intervention, including the availability of local domestic violence services.
Source: Jean Ramsay, Clare Rutterford, Alison Gregory, Danielle Dunne, Sandra Eldridge, Debbie Sharp, and Gene Feder, 'Domestic violence: knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice of selected UK primary healthcare clinicians', British Journal of General Practice, Volume 62 Number 602
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Aug
A report said that new strategies were needed to protect young women and girls from exploitative sexual relationships (including prostitution). Many sexually exploited girls committed crime in order to try and escape the men who exploited them or as a cry for help.
Source: Jo Phoenix, Out of Place: The policing and criminalisation of sexually exploited girls and young women, Howard League for Penal Reform
Links: HLPR press release
Date: 2012-Jul
A think-tank report said that existing programmes and other approaches to perpetrators of domestic violence had a poor track record in addressing underlying motivators for abusive behaviour. Breaking cycles of violence and abuse was essential if perpetrators were not to take destructive patterns of behaviour into future relationships. The report made a series of recommendations for tackling the problem, including: payment-by-results commissioning frameworks for domestic abuse services; a module in the school curriculum focused on helping adolescents to build equal and non-abusive relationships; and a specific offence of 'coercive control', allowing prosecutions even when no physical harm had been caused.
Source: Elly Farmer and Samantha Callan, Beyond Violence: Breaking cycles of domestic abuse, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jul
A report examined the profile and experiences of domestic violence victims who accessed the criminal justice system and who were supported by independent domestic violence advisors (IDVAs). The proportion of victims experiencing a cessation of abuse at the point of exit from the IDVA service increased at each stage of the criminal justice process. The most significant increase in cessation of abuse was for those victims where the perpetrator had been charged with an offence following a report to the police, compared with where there was no charge.
Source: IDVA Insights into Domestic Violence Prosecutions, Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jul
The coalition government announced (following consultation) that forcing someone to marry would become a criminal offence in England and Wales.
Source: Press release 8 June 2012, Downing Street
Links: Downing Street press release | Home Office press release | Consultation responses | HOC research brief | Nottingham University press release | Roehampton University press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Notes: Consultation document (December 2011)
Date: 2012-Jun
A new book examined the range of gendered harms to women involved in prostitution, and the consequences of the growth of the sex industry for gender relations. Although there was an increasing amount of research and academic output on prostitution, the focus was often on policy frameworks. Contemporary debates over harm were largely limited to sex trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. Less attention was paid to questions of how the sex industry perpetuated notions of objectification and male entitlement with respect to women's bodies.
Source: Maddy Coy (ed.), Prostitution, Harm and Gender Inequality: Theory, research and policy, Ashgate Publications
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the experiences of a small sample of women with learning disabilities, all of whom had experienced domestic abuse from intimate partners. Although the women had sought help from services to leave their abusive partners, it had either been denied or been inappropriate to their needs. Helpful service provision included advocacy, a domestic abuse therapy programme, and an empowerment group informed by feminist perspectives.
Source: Alison Walter-Brice, Rachel Cox, Helena Priest, and Fiona Thompson, 'What do women with learning disabilities say about their experiences of domestic abuse within the context of their intimate partner relationships?', Disability & Society, Volume 27 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
An article examined the views of parents and young people who had experienced domestic violence. Professionals who appeared ineffective in the face of domestic violence could reinforce children's and victims' own sense of powerlessness. Mothers wanted support with managing the effects of separation and assistance with contact arrangements. Interventions that enabled parents to engage with children's experiences of domestic violence appeared valuable. Rather than taking separation as the end-point of intervention, social work needed to take account of the dynamics of separation and contact in parents' relationships, and consider how they interacted with violence and abuse to affect children and young people.
Source: Nicky Stanley, Pam Miller, and Helen Richardson Foster, 'Engaging with children's and parents' perspectives on domestic violence', Child & Family Social Work, Volume 17 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
A new book examined (in four volumes) the relationship between gender, crime, and criminal victimization.
Source: Sandra Walklate (ed.), Gender and Crime, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-May
A think-tank report examined the history of the fight against the practice of forced marriage. It said that successful schemes adopted a holistic approach – involving communities, and focusing on prevention rather than prosecution – rather than relying on criminalization alone.
Source: Max Wind-Cowie, Phillida Cheetham, and Tom Gregory, Ending Forced Marriage, Demos
Date: 2012-Apr
A survey found that over one-half of parents with children experienced serious or frequent conflict within the family. 21 per cent of parents reported conflict over serious financial worries and debt. Other causes of family conflict included: arguments with teenage children (20 per cent); disagreements over child discipline (17 per cent); sibling rivalry between children (17 per cent); and redundancy/long-term unemployment of one or both parents (7 per cent). Children were overwhelmingly the victims: 950,000 children were affected by domestic violence, either directly as victims or indirectly as witnesses.
Source: The Enemy Within: 4 million reasons to tackle family conflict and family violence, 4Children
Links: Report | 4Children press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Mar
The coalition government published an updated action plan on the issue of violence against women and girls. At the same time it announced that two new specific criminal offences of 'stalking' would be introduced in England and Wales.
Source: Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls: Taking Action – The next chapter, Home Office
Links: Action plan | Hansard | Home Office press release | ACPO press release | Labour Party press release
Date: 2012-Mar
A series of articles examined issues related to the abuse of parents (or those occupying a parental role) by their adolescent children.
Source: Caroline Hunter and Christine Piper, 'Parent abuse: can law be the answer?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2 | Judy Nixon, 'Practitioners' constructions of parent abuse', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2 | Rachel Condry and Caroline Miles, 'Adolescent to parent violence and youth justice in England and Wales', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2 | Nina Biehal, 'Parent abuse by young people on the edge of care: a child welfare perspective', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2 | Helen Baker, 'Problematising the relationship between teenage boys and parent abuse: constructions of masculinity and violence', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2 | Paula Wilcox, 'Is parent abuse a form of domestic violence?', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2 | Amanda Holt, 'Researching parent abuse: a critical review of the methods', Social Policy and Society, Volume 11 Issue 2
Links: Abstract (1) | Abstract (2) | Abstract (3) | Abstract (4) | Abstract (5) | Abstract (6) | Abstract (7)
Date: 2012-Mar
A Labour Party commission published an interim report on women's safety. It called on the coalition government to conduct an urgent audit of the services available to women victims of violence, in order to identify any deterioration in services and any gaps in provision.
Source: Commission on Women s Safety, Everywoman Safe Everywhere: First interim report, Labour Party
Links: Report | Labour Party press release
Date: 2012-Mar
A report expressed concern about the implications of public spending cuts for the provision of local violence-against-women services.
Source: Jude Towers and Sylvia Walby, Measuring the Impact of Cuts in Public Expenditure on the Provision of Services to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls, Northern Rock Foundation/Trust for London
Links: Report | Summary | Lancaster University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Feb
An article offered a critique of the former (1997-2010) Labour government's conceptualization of forced marriage as a cultural problem imported by immigrants. That approach had given rise to policy initiatives focusing on victims' right to exit and the tightening of immigration controls, rather than the possibility of finding solutions within minority communities. The gendered nature of the problem, and its connexions with other forms of violence against women in both mainstream society and minority communities, had been largely ignored.
Source: Aisha Gill and Trishima Mitra-Kahn, 'Modernising the other: assessing the ideological underpinnings of the policy discourse on forced marriage in the UK', Policy & Politics, Volume 40 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Feb
A joint inspectorate report said that the criminal justice system had made progress in recent years in relation to the needs of rape victims: but improvements needed to be made to the way in which the police gathered and analyzed intelligence material to identify perpetrators of rape, and more could be done to ensure that prosecutions were robust.
Source: Forging the Links: Rape investigation and prosecution, HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate/HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
Links: Report | HMIC/HMCPSI press release | ACPO press release | Rape Crisis press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Feb
A report by an all-party group of MPs and peers said that a new law was needed to make 'stalking' a specific criminal offence in England and Wales.
Source: Independent Parliamentary Inquiry into Stalking Law Reform: Main Findings and Recommendations, Justice Unions Parliamentary Group
Links: Report | Labour Party press release | Napo press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Feb
A new book examined the experiences of disabled women who had suffered domestic violence. It highlighted the gaps in services for disabled women, and discussed how professional responses should be developed and improved.
Source: Ravi Thiara, Gill Hague, Ruth Bashall, Brenda Ellis, and Audrey Mullender, Disabled Women and Domestic Violence: Responding to the experiences of survivors, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Links: Summary
Date: 2012-Jan
A study examined the experiences of post-separation child contact among south Asian and African-Caribbean women and children, in cases where there had been domestic violence.
Source: Ravi Thiara and Aisha Gill, Domestic Violence, Child Contact and Post-Separation Violence: Issues for south Asian and African-Caribbean women and children, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Links: Report
Date: 2012-Jan