THE DOMESTIC ABUSE ACT 2021

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 received Royal Assent on the 29th April 2021. You don’t need me to tell you how important this piece of legislation will be to criminal practitioners. Training of some sort this year should be a priority.

Content:

The following 12 issues will be explored during this presentation:

1 – The statutory definition of domestic abuse

2 – Single incident or course of conduct?

3 – The ages of the people concerned – must be 16 or over/personally connected

4 – The new offence of non-fatal strangulation

5 – Extending the controlling or coercive behaviour offence to cover post-separation

6 – Extending revenge porn to cover ‘threats to disclose intimate images’

7 – Clarifying the law to further deter claims of ‘rough sex gone wrong’

8 – Creates a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures

9 – Prohibition on GPs and other health professionals from charging a victim of domestic abuse for a letter to support an application for legal aid

10 – VERY IMPORTANT – the concept of the Domestic Abuse Protection Notice (DAPN) – these will be considered in some detail

11 – VERY IMPORTANT – the concept of the Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO) – these will be considered in some detail

12 – Appeals under the Act

Order here