The 8th of March this year marked International Women's Day and saw the start of the national roll out of Clare's Law, also known as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, which allows police to disclose details of an abusive partner.
It follows a 14-month pilot in four police force areas, which apparently provided more than 100 people with potentially life-saving information.
At the same time, the Government has also rolled out the use of Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) across England and Wales.
DVPOs can be used to provide immediate protection to a victim where there is not enough evidence to charge an alleged perpetrator and provide protection to victims via bail conditions. A DVPO can last for up to 28 days, during which time the perpetrator can be prevented from having contact with the victim.
DVPOs are designed to give victims the time and space they need to make decisions about their options and future safety with the help of a support agency.
The implementation of Clare’s Law and DVPOs are among the measures introduced to tackle violence against women and girls and form an integral part of the Government’s Call to End Violence against Women and Girls’ Action Plan 2014.
The plan includes a commitment to put in place a new code of practice to ensure that safe addresses of victims of domestic and sexual abuse are protected. This will take effect where victims might otherwise have to reveal details of their address to people who could threaten them – for example in court cases unrelated to their abuse, or when required for their children’s school records, or the family’s access to benefits.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.
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