Domestic abuse and stalker register will do little to help victims – report

Proposals for a domestic abuse and stalking offenders register to form part of the government’s strategy for halving domestic abuse would do little to help victims, according to a comprehensive new report.

Instead, the government should invest in new methods to identify high-risk domestic abuse and stalking offenders, which would also improve the effectiveness of new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders.

Since first proposed in 2009, the legislative proposals for a register have been fiercely contested by both sides of the argument and have also been debated six times in the UK Parliament. Earlier this year the proposals were approved by the House of Lords, only for the decision to be overturned in the House of Commons just a few days later. The proposals are expected to be tabled again in this Parliament.

A new study by the University of Essex, involving key figures across the sector – from the police and Probation Service to victims’ charities and the Prison Service – has found the proposed register would cost between £8.6m to £11.2m in the first year alone, but only apply to a fraction of domestic abuse and stalking offenders. Only 4.4% of domestic abuse and 1.7% of stalking perpetrators receive convictions let alone custodial sentences, but the register would only apply to those who have served time in prison.

Lead author Dr Kat Hadjimatheou – whose research has helped shape the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) known as ‘Clare’s Law’ – said one of the sector’s main concerns is that enforcing the register in its current form could divert scarce resources away from people who have been assessed as the most dangerous and give victims and survivors false reassurance.

Worryingly, victims and survivors who hear about the register might assume that their perpetrator is being monitored and tracked by police, but the likelihood is that they won’t be.

Co-author and domestic abuse expert Rasha Hamid added: “Another problem is that the proposals impose the same measures designed to monitor registered sex offenders on domestic abuse and stalking offenders. But there’s no evidence that what works for sex offenders would work for these other crimes. The risk profiles are very different.”

While last week’s government announcement of a new Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO) pilot is welcome, the research also found that there is still no reliable and scientifically rigorous method of assessing who poses the highest risk and therefore who should be subject to a DAPO.

Dr Hadjimatheou said: “The fact that there is no national investment in this area means police forces are using different, usually outdated methods of identifying who is most likely to cause the most harm. We urgently need investment in national solutions to ensure the most serious criminals are held accountable and prevented from hurting more people.”

The report also found that, unlike Scotland and many other countries, England and Wales still does not collect basic statistics on domestic abuse and stalking offenders.

Dr Hadjimatheou, from Essex’s Department of Sociology and Criminology, explained: “The latest available estimations of the numbers of serial domestic abuse offenders were published over a decade ago. We have no idea how many victims these offenders have harmed. We have no statistics on how many domestic abuse crimes are committed by how many people each year. This means we can’t track offenders through the system.”

She added: “Some say you can test what a society cares about by looking at what it counts. If that is true, then the lack of reliable statistics on domestic abuse and stalking speaks volumes.

“For the sake of victims and survivors of domestic violence and stalking, we need to get any new legislation on a register right.”

Dr Hadjimatheou, from Essex’s Department of Sociology and Criminology, said there was a real opportunity to establish the best way forward, but the current proposals would involve a lot of energy and resources being spent on a small subset of offenders.

“The bigger question is what can we do to address high-risk and serial domestic abuse and stalker offending?” she added.

“Any new proposals for a register should be one element in a wider government strategy to deal with the threat posed by high risk and serial perpetrators of domestic abuse and stalking, including those who are never convicted.”