When former Eastenders actress, Sian Blake and her two children were discovered murdered in their home, the issue of domestic abuse was thrust back into our conscious.<\/p>\n
This case garnered media interest because of the celebrity connection, but the harsh reality is two victims of domestic abuse are murdered by their partners every week.<\/p>\n
Victims can protect themselves by reporting incidents to the police, obtaining injunctions and fleeing to refuges, but these steps don\u2019t address the root problem, which is the behaviour of the perpetrator.<\/p>\n
Statistics show that before domestic abuse is reported, victims will have endured an average 35 incidents. Even then, many are too afraid to take the complaint further and of those that do, few result in prosecution. For example, one million women suffer at least one incident of domestic abuse in any one year, yet there will only be around 53,000 convictions.<\/p>\n
A new programme is being introduced, known as Drive, which claims to be different to existing courses for domestic violence offenders. It offers one-on-one support to help challenge and change the behaviour of the perpetrator, as well as address mental health issues and substance misuse.<\/p>\n
Drive is backed by domestic abuse charities SafeLives and Respect and is being supported by Social Finance, the police and crime commissioners in Essex, Sussex and South Wales, where it is being piloted. The programme will target the most dangerous offenders, with 300 people expected to take part during the next three years.<\/p>\n
The launch of Drive has received a mixed reaction. It has been greeted with scepticism from several domestic abuse charities and victims that believe the money would be better invested in those affected and that the perpetrator will ultimately be incapable of change.<\/p>\n
It is alleged a family member of Sian Blake made a telephone call to the NSPCC prior to her going missing, as they believed she and her children could come to harm. Currently, when a victim is known to be high risk, they may be monitored and injunctions, such as Non-Molestation Orders, obtained, but there are no steps enabling the perpetrator to revaluate their behaviour at this stage.<\/p>\n
If Drive is used when it becomes apparent a person may cause significant harm or death, we could see some positive results and a reduction in offending. However, if the course is just offered as a way to avoid criminal sanctions for actions already committed, the perpetrator may believe they have got away with the crime scot free.<\/p>\n
It is likely we will need to monitor the outcomes of the programme to ascertain if it will make any real impact. In the meantime, civil remedies including injunctive orders are still available and some victims will still be eligible for legal aid.<\/p>\n
If you would like advice and support about the issues raised here, please contact our family law team on (0114) 218 4000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When former Eastenders actress, Sian Blake and her two children were discovered murdered in their home, the issue of domestic abuse was thrust back into our conscious. This case garnered media interest because of the celebrity connection, but the harsh reality is two victims of domestic abuse are murdered by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336,341],"tags":[674,677,682,691,1319],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-domestic-violence","category-familylaw","tag-domestic-abuse","tag-domestic-violence","tag-drive","tag-eastenders","tag-sian-blake"],"yoast_head":"\n