Charity call for review of Clare's Law domestic abuse scheme
- Published
Clare Wood did not know her ex-boyfriend had a long history of violence against women
Victims' charities are calling for a review of a domestic abuse scheme that tells people if their partners have a history of offending.
The Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse Scotland (DSDAS) was launched in 2015 after the death of Clare Wood.
Figures obtained by BBC Scotland show applications to the scheme - known as Clare's Law - soared during lockdown.
Police Scotland said it was assessing the effectiveness of DSDAS, and it was "a key part" of preventing abuse.
However, domestic abuse charities say nothing has been done to evaluate whether the scheme has reduced abuse towards women.
There were 3,665 applications to the scheme in 2020/21. The figure has more than tripled in the seven years since the scheme launched.
The number of disclosures - where police deem there is a public interest in making the information available - has also increased significantly.
In 2015 there were 528 notifications. This has risen to 2,210.
The scheme was launched after Clare Wood, 36, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend at her home in Salford in 2009.
She had been unaware of his history of violence against women.
Her father Michael Brown, originally from Aberdeen, campaigned for police forces to alert women if their partners had a reported history of domestic abuse.
Charities want to know if disclosing information on partners is helping to stop domestic abuse
The scheme's opponents claim it can give a false sense of security to those who are told a partner has no past convictions, as many domestic violence cases go unreported.
Dr Marsha Scott, Chief Executive Scottish Women's Aid, said: "We always welcome any efforts to give women more information, more tools, more control, as domestic abuse takes all of those away.
"It is interesting to see that there has been a large rise in applications in recent years and it is hard to know what is causing that.
"The evaluations to date have failed to speak to women after the dust has settled - six or nine months after the disclosure.
"We hoped this would be done when the scheme was started, but we haven't seen any evidence that this info is being gathered."
'Helped thousands'
Her calls were backed by Victim Support Scotland.
A spokesperson said: "We know that incidents of domestic violence increased over the lockdown period
"We join Scottish Women's Aid in calling for a review to assess the scheme and its effectiveness, to ensure it is adequately serving the very people it is there to protect."
Det Ch Supt Sam Faulds, Head of Public Protection for Police Scotland, said the scheme was a key part of preventing domestic abuse and it had helped thousands of people.
She added: "We work closely with our partners, not only to improve our own response but also to educate against and to prevent domestic abuse."
- Published1 October 2016
- Published1 October 2017
