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PRESS STATEMENT: Thursday 8 March 2012
Re. introduction of a criminal offence of stalking
Diana Barran, Chief Executive of Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) said: “CAADA warmly welcomes the forthcoming amendment of the Protection from Harassment Act to include a specific offence of stalking and guidance around what constitutes stalking behaviour.
“Stalking is a common feature of high risk domestic abuse; more rarely, victims can experience stalking without engaging in any form of relationship with the stalker. Some stalking behaviours place victims at high risk of serious harm or murder. These include constant / obsessive phone calls, texts and emails, uninvited visits to the victim's work or family home, vandalism of property and threatening homicide or suicide. This amendment will provide greater clarity for police and professionals over stalking behaviour, and enable more legal protection for victims, with a potential perpetrator custodial sentence of up to five years.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For more information please contact Samantha Brown, Head of Communications at CAADA on 07935 268427 or emailing samantha.brown@caada.org.uk
- Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) is a national charity supporting a strong multi-agency response to domestic abuse. Our work focuses on saving lives and saving public money. CAADA provides practical help to support professionals and organisations working with domestic abuse victims. The aim is to protect the highest risk victims and their children – those at risk of murder or serious harm.
PRESS STATEMENT: Thursday 8 March 2012
Committed multi-agency professionals support the highest number of ‘high risk' domestic abuse cases ever recorded
Despite facing substantial cuts to frontline service provision, multi-agency professionals have worked cooperatively to support over 50,000 ‘high risk' domestic abuse cases over the last year – the highest number ever recorded.
Data collected by the national domestic abuse charity CAADA shows that 53,120 victim cases were supported through regular multi-agency meetings across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 96% of the cases involved female victims, all of whom were at high risk of serious harm or murder.
Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences – or MARACs as the meetings are more commonly known - are voluntary meetings where information is shared on the highest risk domestic abuse cases between local public agencies, including Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs), the police, health, children's services, housing and others. After sharing all relevant information about a victim, the meeting then discusses options for increasing their safety, and turns this into an action plan.
Diana Barran, Chief Executive of Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) said: “This International Women's Day, CAADA would like to say a huge thank you to the many multi-agency professionals who work tirelessly to support women at high risk of harm from domestic abuse, despite facing swingeing cuts to frontline service provision.
“MARACs are not a statutory obligation and professionals attend the meetings on a voluntary basis as part of their everyday role. Police and health services have experienced large cuts over the last year and specialist domestic abuse services have received average cuts of 30%. Today's figures are a testimony to the personal dedication and commitment of the professionals that attend MARACs, who come from a variety of voluntary and statutory agencies. These professionals are experts at working in partnership to deliver cost effective services, and more funding is desperately needed to enable them to carry on their life-saving work.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For more information please contact Samantha Brown, Head of Communications at CAADA on 07935 268427 or emailing samantha.brown@caada.org.uk
- Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse (CAADA) is a national charity supporting a strong multi-agency response to domestic abuse. Our work focuses on saving lives and saving public money. CAADA provides practical help to support professionals and organisations working with domestic abuse victims. The aim is to protect the highest risk victims and their children – those at risk of murder or serious harm.
- To date, CAADA has provided support to over 253 Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs). A MARAC is a regular, voluntary partnership meeting where information on the highest risk domestic abuse cases is shared between local agencies. Since 2007, CAADA has also trained over 1200 Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs).
- Data submitted to CAADA in the twelve months up to the end of December 2011 shows that 53,120 victim cases were supported by MARACs. This equates to around 41,244 individuals after repeat cases are removed. 96% of these victims were women. For more information visit www.caada.org.uk/marac/MARAC_data_and_performance.html
Press release archive
March 2012: Re. Announcement of Clare's Law pilots March 2012: New Director of Services appointed at CAADA
December 2011: Re. Government consultation to change the definition of domestic violence
October 2011: Re. Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme consultation on proposed ‘Clare's Law'
October 2011: A manifesto for family justice: alliance of interest groups calls on government to change plans June 2011: CAADA Chief Executive Diana Barran awarded MBE June 2011: Home Office and CAADA pledge four year support for Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences
April 2011: CAADA’s response to the launch of domestic violence homicide reviews
March 2011: The perfect storm: funding cuts to domestic abuse charities and other public services will leave thousands of victims at risk of severe harm
November 2010: Coalition Government announcement on the Call to End Violence against Women and Girls Strategy
March 2010: Multi-agency support to tackle severe domestic abuse could save £740 million a year to the public purse
November 2009: CAADA’s response to the launch of Together we can end violence against women and girls: a strategy
November 2009: CAADA’s response to the launch of Safety in Numbers: a multi-site evaluation of Independent Domestic Violence Advisor Services
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