Defending the Domestic Abuse Victim/Defendant: Why the Prison Reform Trust's Campaign to Introduce Defences for Offending Driven by Domestic Abuse Is Important

• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/00328855221079258
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Author: Vanessa Bettinson
• Subject Matter: Articles

Defending the Domestic

Abuse Victim/

Defendant: Why the

Prison Reform Trust’s

Campaign to Introduce

Defences for Offending

Driven by Domestic

Abuse Is Important

Vanessa Bettinson

Abstract

This article explores the vulnerability of many UK female offenders and their

experiences of domestic abuse that drives their criminality. Now that coer-

cive control by domestic partners is more widely understood, criminal

defences should take into account the impact it has upon domestic abuse vic-

tim/defendants. The Prison Reform Trust campaigned for the introduction of

legal reform that would end convictions of people who committed crimes as

a direct result of domestic abuse victimization. The reform has been consid-

ered during the debates on the 2021 Domestic Abuse Bill; however, the gov-

ernment rejected the proposal. This article considers how the application of

domestic abuse defences can reduce the female prison population and dis-

cusses why legal reform is necessary.

Keywords

domestic abuse, female offenders, coercive control, duress

De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Corresponding Author:

Vanessa Bettinson, De Montfort University Law School, The Gateway, Leicester, UK LE1 9BH,

Leicester, UK.

Email: vbettingson@dmu.ac.uk

Article

The Prison Journal

2022, Vol. 102(2) 154–171

© 2022 SAGE Publications

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/00328855221079258

journals.sagepub.com/home/tpj

Introduction

This year celebrates the arrival of the Domestic Abuse Act of 2021, a

‘once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the response to this terrible

crime’(HM Government, 2019, p. 1). It has provided several statutory provi-

sions relating to criminal law, such as introducing new offences following

successful campaigning from women’s rights groups, academics, lawyers,

and MPs, such as Jess Phillips.

From the outset, the Domestic Abuse Bill contained minimal criminal law

elements and was absent any inclusion of defences that could be raised by

those whose offending is driven by domestic abuse. Further campaigning,

with early impetus from the Prison Reform Trust, did result in amendments

being proposed at the House of Lords’stage. However, despite powerful

arguments put forward by Baroness Kennedy (HL Hansard, 2021), a life

peer of the House of Lords and criminal barrister, all were rejected by the gov-

ernment. This is considered a blow to those campaigning for greater recogni-

tion of the role domestic abuse plays in the lives of women offenders and who

desire a fairer justice system that fully takes this factor into account in deci-

sions throughout the justice process. Despite this, the Domestic Abuse Bill

did provide opportunities for domestic abuse advocates to generate debate

about the issue of defences. Yet, it is argued, greater theoretical discussion

and further campaigning are needed to continue to lobby for change. This

article will explore how domestic abuse drives criminal offending, particu-

larly for women offenders, and how the criminal law in England and Wales

fails to take this defence suff‌iciently into consideration. Further, these omis-

sions conf‌lict with the approach taken towards victims of modern slavery,

who can rely on a defence of compulsion for many crimes, provided by

s. 45 Modern Slavery Act 2015. This article thus proposes that legal reform

is justif‌ied, creating a coercive control approach to defences where the offend-

er’s crime is driven by domestic abuse.

Vulnerable Women Offenders

Women enter prisons with multiple and complex needs such as mental ill

health, substance misuse, and a history of abusive experiences (Anumba

et al., 2012; Bartlett & Hollins, 2018; Corston, 2007; Gelsthorpe et al.,

2007). Many have reported being victims of physical, emotional, and

sexual abuse as children -- 53%of female offenders compared to 27% of

male offenders in the UK (Ministry of Justice, 2012). Estimates of the

number of women in prison who have experienced domestic abuse as

adults are considered to be understated (Gelsthorpe et al., 2007), with the

Bettinson 155