Family Solicitors

Domestic violence is any form of sexual, physical, financial or psychological violence taking place within the context of a family-type relationship and forming part of an overall pattern of controlling and coercive behaviour. Domestic violence also covers such situations as ‘honour crimes’ and forced marriages and can include a very wide range of abusive behaviour, which, if taken separately, would not normally be thought of as ‘violent’.

Research has shown that domestic violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men and experienced by women. Women experience domestic violence regardless of religious and ethnic grouping, race, class, age, disability or lifestyle. It also takes place within relationships of all descriptions, from straight and gay to trans-gender and bisexual. To that extent, domestic violence is the great leveller in human societies across the globe.

The official government definition of domestic violence in the UK is, ‘Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.’

A desire to exercise power and control is considered to be the root cause of all incidents of domestic violence, whether it be financial, psychological, physical or emotional and family members, including children and other intimate partners are the usual victims of it.

Domestic violence takes on a multitude of forms, as varied as the domestic groupings in which it manifests itself. Verbal abuse and destructive criticism are common, along with pressure tactics, such as sulking, threatening to disconnect the phone or commit suicide, approaching welfare agencies about the way the children are being raised and many more ‘low level’ tactics, short of actual physical violence.

Isolation, disrespect and the breaking of trust are all a part of the same tactics at this level of domestic violence. These take the form, for example, of blocking phone calls and placing restrictions on going out, refusing to help with domestic chores or childcare and withholding information.

A victim of domestic violence might be considered to be harassed by, for example, the opening of private mail and public humiliation. This can escalate to what we would commonly regard as the realm of true violent behaviour, such as physical threats, shouting and breaking household or personal items.

Sexual acts are also common forms of domestic violence, such as forced sex or degrading treatment and this is commonly associated with physical violence, such as punching, kicking, slapping and burning or worse.

Denial is also common in such situations, with the perpetrator either claiming that the violence never happened or else blaming the abused party, begging forgiveness and then returning easily to the same abusive behavioural patterns.

Domestic violence does not comprise a single criminal offence, but is rather an umbrella term for describing a range of different behaviours and their consequences. Many forms of these do indeed constitute crimes, such as rape, attempted murder and GBH. At the same time, others, such as emotional abuse, can have a lasting effect, but do not constitute crimes in the legal sense.

Contact family and child care solicitors like Duncan Lewis for more information on what constitutes domestic violence.