Domestic Abuse Bill – proposed changes in the law for victims/survivors driven to offend

UPDATE: 30/04/2021 - The Domestic Abuse Bill received royal assent on 29 April 2021.  It is a landmark piece of legislation and we are delighted it includes non-fatal strangulation as a stand-alone offence following a widely supported campaign.  It is deeply disappointing, however, that the Bill does not ensure equal protection for migrant women, and that it fails to protect victims who offend – or are alleged to offend – as a direct result of their experience of abuse.  

We are grateful to all those who supported our work on the Domestic Abuse Bill, and that work was certainly not wasted – we have built significant support for reform and we will continue to press for changes in the law and in criminal justice practice – hopefully with your continued support.  This work forms part of CWJ’s wider Stop Criminalising Survivors project, and we have a number of other planned streams of work to continue raising awareness of the gaps in law and practice that currently prevent women accessing justice in these cases and press for reforms.  This includes widespread dissemination of CWJ’s Women who kill research, publication of a new briefing based on fresh evidence from frontline lawyers and women’s specialist services, and plans for further legal research.  Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you would like to be involved in this work.

UPDATE: 22/04/2021 - Our proposed statutory defences were unfortunately voted out of the Bill by a majority in the House of Commons, as the government remains opposed to these legislative reforms. On Wednesday 21 April, with support from the Labour and Liberal Democrat front benches, and from Lord Randall of Uxbridge (Con) and Baroness Jones (Green), Baroness Helena Kennedy asked the government to establish an independent review of the effectiveness of the defences of self-defence and duress for victims of domestic abuse who are driven to offend, and the need for any legislative reform. The government has not agreed to hold such a review, but has indicated that these defences will be considered as part of its planned review of sentencing in domestic homicide cases. This does not go far enough, and we will continue to press government to take effective action to end the unjust criminalisation of survivors.

UPDATE: 11/03/2021 - last night the House of Lords voted in favour of our proposed statutory defences for survivors who offend due to abuse. You can see the debate here from Column 1742 onwards. We are particularly grateful to the parliamentarians who stuck with the debate late into the night to give such powerful speeches and to vote in support, amid many other important amendments to this huge Bill, and under significant time pressure. The speeches given by peers in support last night included Baroness Kennedy, Lord Randall of Uxbridge, Baroness Hamwee, Lord Paddick, Baroness Jenny Jones, Lord Kennedy and the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, Lord Bishop of Gloucester

We have been closely involved in work by the Prison Reform Trust over the last two years, to develop proposed changes in the law for victims/survivors who offend due to their experience of domestic abuse.  Following the end of the Prison Reform Trust’s Transforming Lives programme to reduce women’s imprisonment in October 2020, the Centre for Women’s Justice has now taken over the lead on this work.

When the Domestic Abuse Bill returns to Parliament in 2021, we will continue to call for improved legal protection for survivors of domestic abuse to be added to the Bill for those whose offending is driven by their experience of domestic abuse. This would address a gap in legal protection for survivors, strengthen recognition of the links between victimisation and offending and deter inappropriate prosecutions.

We are now building parliamentary support for our proposed amendments to give legal protection to those driven by domestic abuse into offending.  Our proposed amendments were tabled in the House of Commons by Jess Phillips MP, and will be tabled in the House of Lords by Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws QC.  

Download our short briefing here.

Download CWJ’s response to the government’s call for evidence on the VAWG strategy for 2021-2024 here.

Listen to a podcast about the Domestic Abuse Bill launched by the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester here

Four recent articles discuss why the new defences are needed.  Sarah Beresford’s blog is based on her recent conversation with a child whose mother is in prison for an offence attributable to her experience of domestic abuse.  Katy Swaine Williams’  article for NAPO magazine and guest blog for Russell Webster set out the proposals, while Barrister Paramjit Ahluwalia’s articles for the Law Society Gazette and Counsel magazine explain why current defences are ineffective.

On 4th March 2021, we hosted a cross-party event for MPs and Peers hosted by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and Jess Phillips MP which can be watched here

Our proposals are supported by:

Please get in touch if you would like to support the proposals and if you are able to contribute case studies illustrating why improved legal protection is needed.

Further reading:

Prison Reform Trust (2017) ‘There’s a reason we’re in trouble’: Domestic abuse as a driver to women’s offending and the Criminal Bar Association's accompanying briefing

Advance (2020) ‘A Place to Go Like This’: Breaking the cycle of harm for mothers involved in offending who are survivors of domestic abuse, and their children

Sakande, N. (2020) Righting Wrongs: What are the barriers faced by women seeking to overturn unsafe convictions or unfair sentences in the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)?

Howard League for Penal Reform (2020) Arresting the entry of women into the criminal justice system: Briefing Two

Clarke, R. and Chadwick, K. (2020) Stories of injustice: the criminalisation of women convicted under joint enterprise laws

Centre for Women’s Justice and Justice for Women, (2021): Women Who Kill: How the state criminalises women we might otherwise be burying

Working Chance (2021), Domestic abuse survivors who offend need a legal defence - here’s why

Contact details

To find out more, contact us:

info@centreforwomensjustice.org.uk