Domestic abuse is an area of law which has been and continues to evolve within the United Kingdom, writes Georgina Lockett from Family Law Group.
Noticeably domestic abuse can be considered as a relevantly recent criminal offence within the UK, whereby recognition was only given in the late 1970s. Since then, vast changes and reforms have changed the way in which courts and other multi-agency bodies have responded to victims of domestic abuse.
However, the historic stigma of domestic abuse has often faced a backlash when considering agency responses to those who were victimised by their current or ex-partner, with many articles reporting that abusers either receive light sentences, considering the acts of aggression and violence they commit against the victim, or the courts and other multi-agency bodies have failed to reflect the gravity of domestic homicide when considering sentencing and punishment.