What is Domestic Abuse?
The UK government’s definition of Domestic Abuse is “any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to psychological, physical, sexual, financial, emotional.
Domestic Abuse does not discriminate
Anyone can be a victim of Domestic Abuse, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, sexuality or background.
Official statistics show the number of incidents of Domestic Abuse recorded by the authorities every year. But the problem is much bigger than these statistics show.
Types of Domestic Abuse
- emotional abuse
- financial abuse
- sexual abuse
- physical abuse
- digital / online abuse
- honour-based violence
- forced marriage
- female genital mutilation (FGM)
Understanding domestic abuse
Here are some of the types of abuse and the behaviours that are often present with each
The Statistics
- An estimated 2.3 million adults aged 16 to 74 years experienced Domestic Abuse between March 2019 and March 2020 (1.6 million women and 757,000 men)
- The police recorded 758,941 domestic abuse-related crimes in England and Wales, an increase of 9% from the previous year
- Each year more than 100,000 people in the UK are at high and imminent risk of being murdered or seriously injured as a result of Domestic Abuse
- Women are much more likely than men to be the victims of high risk or severe Domestic Abuse: 95% of those going to MARAC or accessing an IDVA service are women
- Seven women a month are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales
- 130,000 children live in homes where there is high-risk Domestic Abuse
- 130,000 children live in homes where there is high-risk Domestic Abuse
- 62% of children living with domestic abuse are directly harmed by the perpetrator of the abuse, in addition to the harm caused by witnessing the abuse of others
- On average, victims at high risk of serious harm or murder live with Domestic Abuse for 2-3 years before getting help
- 85% of victims sought help five times on average from professionals in the year before they got effective help to stop the abuse
Words from victim- survivors we helped
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