Domestic abuse cases rarely convicted, data shows

Fewer than half of domestic abuse cases in England and Wales end up as police-recorded crimes, and most of these do not lead to a prosecution, government figures suggest.

An estimated 2.3m people were victims of domestic abuse in the year to March 2024, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales. Just over two-thirds were women while 712,000 were men.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) research said 1.4m incidents of domestic abuse were recorded by police and, of these, 39,000 resulted in criminal convictions.

It comes as pilot schemes for tougher domestic violence orders are announced - but charities warn that unless police and the courts act on them they are often worth "little more than the paper they are written on".

The pilots for enhanced domestic abuse protection notices and orders (DAPNs and DAPOs) were legislated for by the previous government in 2021 and will be trialled in Greater Manchester, three London boroughs and the British Transport Police.

There will be further pilots in Cleveland and North Wales early in 2025 prior to a national rollout.

Jess Phillips, the minister whose brief covers safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said it would bring together the strongest elements of existing orders into a flexible order to "ensure more victims receive the robust protection they deserve".

The new orders can be imposed by any court and bring together powers in other protective orders to provide "flexible and long-term protection" for victims, domestic abuse commissioner Nicole Jacobs said.

Crucially, breaching the order would be a criminal rather than a civil offence.

They are intended to cover all forms of domestic abuse and, unlike some orders that only last for 28 days, will have no time restrictions.

Along with imposing exclusion zones, the orders can make requirements of abusers such as attending behaviour change programmes. Breaching the requirements will be a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison.

Family courts will also be able to impose tagging for up to 12 months in the most serious cases, something that previously could only be done by criminal courts or the police.

Friends and family will also be able to apply for an order on a victim's behalf.

Domestic abuse charities welcomed the orders but said they needed to be accompanied by greater awareness and training within the police and courts.

ONS analysis found that police recorded around 1.4m domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes in the year to March 2024. Of these, 500,000 were categorised as incidents and 850,000 as crimes.

Of these, there were 73,000 referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service and 49,000 criminal charges. There were around 39,000 criminal convictions in the same period.

One person can be convicted of more than one crime and cases take a while to go through the courts - but that figure suggests fewer than one in 60 people who told the survey they were experiencing abuse were likely to see someone convicted.

Abigail Ampofo, interim chief executive of charity Refuge, said the orders would give more tools for police and other agencies to implement measures to protect survivors of domestic abuse.

But she added: "However, we know there are a myriad of issues when it comes to police using their powers to protect survivors and hold perpetrators to account.

"So often survivors tell us that the police don’t act on breaches of these orders, and they are often worth ‘little more than the paper they are written on’."

Refuge said a previous super-complaint by the Centre for Women's Justice found Domestic Violence Protection Orders had been obtained in an average of 1% of domestic abuse cases.

Ms Ampofo said: "For DAPOs to work and provide survivors with real protections from abusers we need a real sea change in internal policing culture and the police forces response to domestic abuse overall."

Women's Aid backed the criminalisation of DAPOs but was keen to see more training of police and for the courts to be more joined up.

"You need for survivors to have faith that these orders will protect them," policy director Sophie Francis-Cansfield said.