NWCI welcomes the new Domestic Violence Bill
Published: Wednesday, July 04, 2018
NWCI has welcomed the new Domestic Violence Bill as an important step forward in protecting women from male violence, but warned that significant work remains to be done to protect women and children.
Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI said,
“Ending violence against women is critical to achieving equality for women and ensuring women are safe and free to participate fully in society. The new Domestic Violence Bill contains some hugely important measures that bring us closer to this goal, such as creating a new offence of coercive control and recognising that an intimate relationship between a defendant and victim should be seen as an aggravating factor in sentencing. The new Domestic Violence Bill will mean that our criminal law will better reflect the true experience of victims of long-term domestic abuse. Recognising the specific offence of coercive control will improve the ability of women to access justice through effective prosecution of domestic abuse, and also importantly recognises the particularly harmful and complex nature of domestic violence.”