ERICA OSAKWE: ‘I CHANGED THE LAW’
Trigger Warning: the following deals with themes of domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse is defined across government as any incident of coercive, threatening or controlling behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 and over who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of their gender or sexuality.
It wasn’t until Summer 2021 that the Domestic Abuse Act was introduced, creating the first ever statutory definition of domestic abuse in Britain. The bill was rushed through in response to increasing domestic violence reports since the onset of Coronavirus. In other words, it took a pandemic for British politics to formalise its definition of domestic abuse in law. This lack of consolidation only serves to feed the tragic reality that one in ten offences ...
