Today, 1st October 2019, marks six months since Scotland’s world-leading new domestic abuse law came into force.
We were overjoyed when the law was passed in 2018 and when implementation began on the 1st of April this year we knew that, finally, the law reflected the reality of domestic abuse.
This law is innovative in that it criminalises coercive control. That means that the types of emotional and psychological violence that women and children have been telling us for over forty years are the most difficult to deal with and recover from are finally recognised in the law as domestic abuse.
These have been a really exciting six months for us. We’ve seen some encouraging signs, including some successful prosecutions, and women obtaining non-harassment orders making them feel safe for the first time in a long time. We’ve heard that women in some places are getting the most wonderful response when they talk to someone in the criminal justice system.
However, as you would expect with such a huge sea change piece of legislation, there are some areas where practice is not so good and the unintended potential negative consequences are clear to us. We’re keeping a close eye out for any misapplications of the law, including mistaken arrests of victims. We are also very interested in the child aggravator, which is a particularly innovative part of this legislation. We are keen to see how the impact of domestic abuse on children gets reflected in the sentencing of perpetrators who are also parents.
We are convinced that there is equal enthusiasm and passion for making this law work across all of the institutions involved and that everyone is keen to make sure that what is a very good law, makes a very big change in Scotland.
Everybody is more confident that the law now accurately reflects the realities of domestic abuse, however women and children will still be watching to see if they are taken seriously when they report coercive and controlling behaviours. The challenge for us now is to ensure that the service responses that people get when they’re going through the civil and criminal justice system are as good as this new law is.
The work is not yet done. Watch this space.
