Family lawyers need to ensure they have a clear & comprehensive understanding of the wide-ranging nature of domestic abuse, say Jenny Duggan & Francesca White
- The Domestic Abuse Act claims to provide protection to millions of people who experience domestic abuse and strengthen measures to tackle perpetrators.
- It expands the legal definition of domestic abuse beyond physical abuse to include emotional abuse, coercive or controlling behaviour, and economic abuse.
- It recognises children as victims if they see, hear or experience the effects of abuse.
The home is a space in which we should feel safe, and yet it is a setting in which abuse is inflicted upon so many, with at least 40% of private law children cases involving allegations of domestic abuse. The impact a volatile environment can have upon victims of abuse, and in particular children, is both devastating and long-lasting. Indeed, so many family lawyers will have heard the stories of abuse present in marriages spanning decades (including physical, emotional and economic abuse) and of people who are subjected to coercive or controlling behaviour
