Criminal law & justice: Interpersonal violence & abuse

"This crime occurs amongst people of all backgrounds and ages. Although mostly committed by men against women, victims can also be male and abuse happens within same-sex relationships.

Domestic abuse does not always have to be physical to be prosecuted - sometimes victims may not even be aware it is happening.

It can include any behaviour deployed by an offender to obtain control or power over another, and we recognise that emotional abuse can be just as harmful as physical violence.

But even when a victim has reported abuse to the police, there are complex reasons they may not see through a prosecution - love, shame, guilt, isolation, fear of the process and language barriers to name just a few.

The level of victim attrition is one of the reasons these cases can be difficult to prosecute. "

Westmarland, Nicole Kelly, Liz
Great Britain. Home Office Report

"There are a range of crimes that can be considered as sexual offences, including non-consensual crimes such as rape or sexual assault, crimes against children including child sexual abuse or grooming, and crimes that exploit others for a sexual purpose, whether in person or online.

Crimes can occur between strangers, friends, acquaintances, current or ex-partners, or family members. The passage of time does not prevent the effective prosecution of sexual offences, and an increasing number of cases referred to the CPS by police feature allegations of a non-recent nature."

Crown Prosecution Service guidance

Legal guidance from Crown Prosecution Service

Open access to read online. Oxford University is a member of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy International Association (SEPIA), formed to support the SEP’s drive to sustainable open access. Only individual members of The Friends of the SEP Society have download access to high quality PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of SEP entries.

Official Council of Europe website Full text and related publications, reports, news etc

The Database is Designed to:

Provide easy access to comprehensive and up-to-date information on measures undertaken by Governments to address all forms of violence against women;
Increase opportunities for exchange of experiences in addressing violence against women;
Strengthen the knowledge-base for effective policy responses to prevent and address violence against women; and
Encourage the further collection, availability, use and dissemination of data on violence against women, as well as analysis of such data.

OA June 2021 Ministry of Justice report sets out the government’s action plan for improving the Criminal Justice System’s response to rape in England and Wales.

The Law Commission has project "to review how evidence is used in prosecutions of sexual offences, and to counter misconceptions about sexual harm (“rape myths”)."

Official website - link to UK government publications on topic

"Rape Crisis England & Wales is the charity working to end sexual violence and abuse.
We provide specialist information and support to all those affected by rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and all other forms of sexual violence and abuse in England and Wales. We are also the membership organisation for 39 Rape Crisis centres."

"Imkaan is a UK-based, Black feminist organisation. We are the only national umbrella women’s organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black and minoritised women and girls i.e. women and girls which are defined in policy terms as Black and ‘Minority Ethnic’ (BME)."

Refuge is the largest specialist domestic abuse organisation in the UK.

"We’re a group of feminist organisations and experts from across the UK, working to end violence against women and girls in all its forms."