Domestic violence and the criminal law

Abstract

This article is an examination of domestic violence and the criminal law, incorporating proposals for reform. Its analysis of the nature of domestic violence reveals that the government’s consultation in this area has misunderstood the problem it seeks to address, divorcing coercion and control from physical abuse when in reality it is an integral part of the phenomenon as a whole. The existing criminal law fails to address this intention to control, as well as to acknowledge the totality of harm suffered by victims and the pattern-based nature of the wrong. Having reached this conclusion it then considers whether a specific offence is an appropriate option for reform and, having concluded that this is the case, puts forward a proposal for a specific offence of domestic violence, formulated to remedy the three deficiencies it had previously identified.