Criminal Law – Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person
Police recorded violence
Police data 2019-2020
- Violence with injury: 512,743 offences – a decrease of 6% from previous
year (lockdown), domestic violence more
- Violence without injury: 717,824 offences – an increase of 4% from
previous year
Levels of violence
- The “dark figure” of violent crime
- CSEW estimates that there were 1.4 million violent incidents against
adults in 2019-2020.
- QU: Has violent crime increased or decreased since the 1980s?
Estimated rates of violence since 1980s
Policing violence
Some problems with identifying violent crime include:
- Reluctance to report
- Misunderstanding of nature of violence
- Lack of confidence in the police
, - 50% of violent crimes does not come to the authorities – domestic
violence the most unreported one
Intimate partner violence/domestic abuse
- Failures to take domestic violence seriously (Cretney and Davis 1996)
- R v Cutts [1987] Michael Davies, J: “...it is high time that the message
was understood in clear terms by courts, by police forces, by probation
officers and above all by husbands and boyfriends of women, that the
fact that a serious assault occurs in a domestic scene is no mitigation
whatsoever and no reason for proceedings not being taken and condign
punishment following in a proper case.”
IPV and the ‘process’ of violence
- IPV includes physical and non-physical abuse (e.g. physical violence,
emotional abuse, coercion, sexual abuse, stalking)
- In the year 2019-2020, an estimated 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74
years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (5.5% of population).
- The police recorded 774,491 offences domestic abuse-related crimes in
2020 - an increase of 9% from the previous year
- Women were around twice as likely to have experienced domestic
abuse than men (1.6 million women and 757,000 men)
- Disabled people were more than twice as likely to have experienced
domestic abuse
- 73% of all incidents of domestic violence were experienced by repeat
victims
, Domestic violence rates
A new offence of controlling and coercive behaviour
S 76 Serious Crime Act 2015
- Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship
(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—
(a) A repeatedly or continuously engages in behaviour towards another
person (B) that is controlling or coercive,
(b) at the time of the behaviour, A and B are personally connected,
(c) the behaviour has a serious effect on B, and
(d) A knows or ought to know that the behaviour will have a serious
effect on B.
Key components of the AR
- Coercive or controlling behaviour
- Repeatedly or continuously
- A personal connection
Intimate partners
Family member
Previous intimate relationship (s 76(2))
Police recorded violence
Police data 2019-2020
- Violence with injury: 512,743 offences – a decrease of 6% from previous
year (lockdown), domestic violence more
- Violence without injury: 717,824 offences – an increase of 4% from
previous year
Levels of violence
- The “dark figure” of violent crime
- CSEW estimates that there were 1.4 million violent incidents against
adults in 2019-2020.
- QU: Has violent crime increased or decreased since the 1980s?
Estimated rates of violence since 1980s
Policing violence
Some problems with identifying violent crime include:
- Reluctance to report
- Misunderstanding of nature of violence
- Lack of confidence in the police
, - 50% of violent crimes does not come to the authorities – domestic
violence the most unreported one
Intimate partner violence/domestic abuse
- Failures to take domestic violence seriously (Cretney and Davis 1996)
- R v Cutts [1987] Michael Davies, J: “...it is high time that the message
was understood in clear terms by courts, by police forces, by probation
officers and above all by husbands and boyfriends of women, that the
fact that a serious assault occurs in a domestic scene is no mitigation
whatsoever and no reason for proceedings not being taken and condign
punishment following in a proper case.”
IPV and the ‘process’ of violence
- IPV includes physical and non-physical abuse (e.g. physical violence,
emotional abuse, coercion, sexual abuse, stalking)
- In the year 2019-2020, an estimated 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74
years experienced domestic abuse in the last year (5.5% of population).
- The police recorded 774,491 offences domestic abuse-related crimes in
2020 - an increase of 9% from the previous year
- Women were around twice as likely to have experienced domestic
abuse than men (1.6 million women and 757,000 men)
- Disabled people were more than twice as likely to have experienced
domestic abuse
- 73% of all incidents of domestic violence were experienced by repeat
victims
, Domestic violence rates
A new offence of controlling and coercive behaviour
S 76 Serious Crime Act 2015
- Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship
(1) A person (A) commits an offence if—
(a) A repeatedly or continuously engages in behaviour towards another
person (B) that is controlling or coercive,
(b) at the time of the behaviour, A and B are personally connected,
(c) the behaviour has a serious effect on B, and
(d) A knows or ought to know that the behaviour will have a serious
effect on B.
Key components of the AR
- Coercive or controlling behaviour
- Repeatedly or continuously
- A personal connection
Intimate partners
Family member
Previous intimate relationship (s 76(2))
