Using Artificial Intelligence to Identify Perpetrators of Technology Facilitated Coercive Control Report January 2023

Vanessa Bettinson

Report Available on: https://hdl.handle.net/2086/22440

A collaboration between researchers from London South Bank University, Edge Hill University, Brighton University and De Montfort University were awarded £117,000 by the Home Office Perpetrators Research Fund 2021/22 for this study.

In 2019, the government publicly acknowledged that the Criminal Justice System is failing victim/survivors of rape and sexual assault resulting in an erosion of public trust and confidence. The abduction, rape, and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer started a series of controversies that served to decrease public trust further. Serious sexual offences are also taking the longest time on record to go through Crown Courts in England and Wales, with the time from the first Crown Court hearing to the end of a case averaging nine months.

The government recognises that the volume of digital data and the length of time it takes to analyse it are significant factors in these delays and that they undermine police investigations and the prosecution process. Police forces report being overwhelmed by the exponential growth in the volume of digital evidence, with over 20,000 digital devices waiting to be processed. Victim/survivors of domestic abuse are also waiting up to four and a half years for the police to return their phones following an investigation. This coupled with victim/survivors feelings of being ‘digitally strip searched’ (i.e., police interest in seemingly irrelevant information such as search histories relating to shopping or holidays) is contributing to high numbers of survivor/victims withdrawing from cases.

This study is one of the 21 projects funded by the Home Office for research on perpetrators of domestic abuse. It is interested in a specific form of domestic abuse known as Technology Facilitated Coercive Control (TFCC) and focussed on the digital communication between (alleged) perpetrators and victim/survivors held on mobile phones. The purpose of this feasibility study was twofold,

  1. to test the viability of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) programme to identify () perpetrators (including alleged perpetrators) of domestic abuse using digital communications held on mobile phones
  2. to examine police and victim/survivor attitudes towards using AI in police investigations.

Using digital conversations extracted from court transcriptions where TFCC was identified as a factor in the offending, the research team tested data sets built on different methods and techniques of AI. Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools, a subfield of AI, were also tested for their speed and accuracy in recognising abusive communication and identifying and risk assessing perpetrators of TFCC.

Conscious of national concern about policing practices relating to Violence Against Women and Girls and that any AI programme would be futile without the co-operation of both the police and the public, two online surveys were devised to measure opinion. The first sought insight into the attitudes of victim/survivors, viewed as experts in domestic abuse, about using AI in police investigations. The second involved the police and questioned their views of using AI in this way.

Organisations who support victim/survivors of domestic abuse and who are known to the research team were approached for their help recruiting victim/survivor participants. To the team’s knowledge, this is the first time the views of survivor/victims about the role of AI in police investigations have been sought. Individual police officers or those with connections to the police service were approached inviting them to complete the questionnaire. These organisations and individual participants were also asked to distribute the link to the survey amongst their wider networks. The link was also posted and promoted at regular intervals on Twitter and LinkedIn. As an incentive, victim/survivors of domestic abuse were offered the opportunity to enter a draw for the chance to win a £100 voucher.

A total of 81 victim/survivors from diverse demographics took part in the survey. Results showed that 70% victim/survivors of domestic abuse were willing to share their digital data with the police if AI technology was used. Victim/survivors’ feelings of being ‘digitally strip searched’ was less clear as the responses were more evenly distributed. Comments in the text boxes suggest that victim/survivors of domestic abuse are curious about how AI can be used to help police with their enquiries but have concerns about the bias of such a programme which is, at least in part, linked to a mistrust of the police. Victim/survivors were also aware of the importance of understanding TFCC within a wider context and were unclear as to the programme’s ability to do this. More qualitative research is required to gain an in-depth understanding of survivor/victims concerns and hopes for using AI in police investigations in the future.

AI’s ability to understand the digital data within the wider context was echoed by some of the 28 police staff who participated in this survey. The issue of bias by this technology was also an issue. Research shows that concern relating to AI bias is often misplaced as it is the data that is subject to bias, not the programme itself. To mitigate against this potential bias, further exploration is required utilising larger data sets. The result of both surveys’ also suggests that educating the public to dispel some of the myths around AI technology would be beneficial.

Domestic abuse cases involving TFCC were identified from newspapers and public databases. Six court transcripts were obtained, the digital communication between (alleged) perpetrators and the victim/survivors was removed, anonymised, and entered onto a data base. This provided a usable dataset of 219 messages. Because this research focussed on understanding the behaviour of (alleged) perpetrators of TFCC only communication threads of (alleged) perpetrators were used. This provided a total of 250 relevant messages which were enriched with an additional 242 perpetrator messages obtained from online repositories. Data instances that represent the absence of coercive and controlling behaviour were retrieved from twitter, bringing the total number of messages used in this research to 1012.

Three classifiers (software systems that process text data at scale) were used in this study namely Random Forest, SVM Linear and RBF. All were trained with embeddings from BERT, GPT2, GloVe and Word2Vec. Results showed the technologies are both fast and accurate in predicting perpetrators of domestic abuse. Based on these encouraging findings further research is necessary, with larger data sets, to train models to have an in-depth understanding of TFCC and test its application to diverse real-world scenarios.

This research has tested the feasibility of AI technology to address government concerns about the rate of convictions relating to cases of sexual and domestic abuse. Findings indicate public support (albeit cautious) on behalf of police and victim/survivors for using AI in police investigations. Early results suggest that this technology would quicken the police’s ability to process digital data, cut down on the length of time they hold victim/survivor phones, limit delays in court processing and reduce the number of victim/survivors of TFCC who withdraw from cases. Further research is required to test the generalisability of this project and determine how it could best be used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System when dealing with domestic abuse cases.

International Coercive Control Legal Network

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De Montfort University launched the International Coercive Control Legal Network at a Justice Colloquium held virtually on 30th and 31st July 2020.

The Planning Committee consisted of: Prof Vanessa Bettinson (DMU), Prof Evan Stark (Rutgers University), Prof Julia Tolmie (Auckland University), Harriet Wistrich, (UK and Director of Centre for Women’s Justice) and Prof Liz Sheehy (University of Ottawa).

Statement of Purpose and Intent

Controlling or coercive behaviour lies at the heart of many cases of domestic violence. It does not describe a single incident but a repeated pattern of behaviour in which one person tries to control another through intimidation, threats, violence or sexual abuse.

This form of abuse only became a criminal offence in 2015 and there is still a lack of recognition within the criminal justice system, police and lawyers around how it impacts on victims, on families and on children.

To help tackle this – and to support victims – De Montfort University launched a high-profile International Coercive Control Legal Network at this Justice Colloquium in July 2020.

The network aims to fight for and develop offences and defences around the globe that can be used by people who have been subjected to coercive control – both as victims and where they have committed offences as a direct result of coercive behaviours by an intimate partner or family member.

The work of the new legal network aligns with a number of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3, Good Health and Wellbeing; SDG 5, Gender Equality; SDG 16, Peace Justice and Strong Institutions.

The programme consisted of a prestigious international experts.

Professor Evan Stark

Dr Marsha Scott, CEO Women’s Aid Scotland

Detective Declan Daly head of the Specialist Unit addressing domestic abuse and coercive control

Caroline Counihan B.L.

Caitriona Gleeson, Safe Ireland

Robert Ewin, Detective Sergeant, North Crime & Safeguarding Hub, Durranhill Police Station

Prof Denise Wilson (Co-Director Taupua Waiora Centre for Mãori Health Research, AUT University, New Zealand)

Harriet Wistrich (Director of the Centre for Women’s Justice), Clare Wade QC (Garden Court Chambers) Prof Julia Tolmie (University of Auckland) and Prof Elizabeth Sheehy (University of Ottawa)

Katy Swaine Williams and Dr Jenny Earle from Prison Reform Trust, Paramjit Ahluwalia (Lamb Building), Harriet Wistrich, Centre for Women’s Justice

Access to the audio recordings for speakers in available upon request via email from Vanessa Bettinson (vbettinson@dmu.ac.uk)

Mobile phone generic personal safety applications in domestic violence and abuse scenarios: Empowering or responsibilising victims? A practitioner lens

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Top 5 Personal Safety Apps for Women all over the World

This is a co-authored blog by Associate Professor Di Turgoose and Dr Ruth E McKie on their work on technology, specifically generic personal safety applications, in domestic violence and abuse scenarios.  The focus of this blog is on the international reach of their work in the autumn of 2019 at the European Conference on Domestic Violence.

In September 2019 at the 3rd Bi-annual European Conference on Domestic Violence (ECDV) held in Oslo, Norway, Di delivered a paper on our work on generic personal safety applications and domestic abuse. The ECDV is viewed as the greatest platform for international impact on the conference circuit for domestic violence and abuse. Over 800 delegates from 80 countries were in attendance and our contribution at the event was paramount in sustaining and continuing to build and develop our work in this area.

Our presentation explored our research which was focused on a generic Personal Safety Application adapted for use for domestic violence and abuse victims and adopted by law enforcement in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Our research consisted of a thematic analysis of data from a roundtable and four follow up focus groups that were undertaken with criminal justice and specialist sector practitioners alongside other interested parties (e.g. universities), and the generic personal safety application development team.

While our findings revealed some support for the use of this generic personal safety application by some, many others identified clear problems associated with its use in domestic violence and abuse situations. These included 1) an oversimplified knowledge of the mechanics of how domestic violence and abuse is operationalised 2) security, privacy and male centric design practices. And 3) failures to address intersectional dynamics of ownership and usability of personal safety applications.

A copy of the presentation is available at https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18968.

We were subsequently invited to write up our findings for publication in a special edition Journal focusing on Technology and Gender Based Violence for 2021.

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a Senior Lecturer in the Community & Criminal Justice Division at DMU. Ruth’s PhD explored climate change denial & criminology.  She is subject expert in Environmental Crime & Harm, researching various crimes e.g. environmental crime & animal abuse. Contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @ruthmckie1

Di Turgoose is an Associate Professor and Teacher Fellow in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU.  She is a pracademic with 20 year’s work experience in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators & victims of crime.  She is subject expert in domestic abuse for the MOJ. Contact Di at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However, quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

Non-Human Animals at the Intersection of Domestic Violence: The Call for anthropocentricism to GIVE WAY!

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This is Associate Professor Di Turgoose and Dr R E McKie’s 6th blog in a series of 6 on their work on pets and domestic abuse.  The focus of this blog in on the international reach of their work in the autumn of 2019 at the European Conference on Domestic Violence conference.

In September 2019 at the 3rd Bi-annual European Conference on Domestic Violence (ECDV) held in Oslo, Norway, Di delivered a paper on our work on pets and domestic abuse. The ECDV is viewed as the greatest platform for international impact on the conference circuit for domestic violence and abuse. Over 800 delegates from 80 countries were in attendance and our contribution at the event was paramount in sustaining and continuing to build and develop our work in this area.

The role of animals as victims within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) has come under some scrutiny; albeit the literature is both sporadic and fragmented (e.g. Moore, 2005; Madeline, 2000). Nevertheless, some researchers have also begun to engage in an ontological evaluation of animals as victims of crime in England and wales as have we (see Flynn and Hall 2017 for example).

However, one under explored area is the role of pets and their victim status in domestic abuse ’cases’.  At the conference, Di presented the findings of our small empirical research project on undergraduate trainee criminal justice practitioner’s interpretations of agency and victimization with pets in domestic abuse situations. For us, engaging these future and emerging practitioners in this area of research and ascertaining their perspectives is integral for meeting some of the future challenges in research and practice in these areas if change is to be realised.

Our paper was entitled ‘Non-Human Animals at the Intersection of Domestic Violence; The Call for anthropocentricism to GIVE WAY!

Our findings indicated that initially students’ views were challenged by the notion that pets might be considered independent agents of victimization. However, they began to recognise the relevance of considering anthropocentric views in relation to domestic abuse and pets. The themes raised have practice and pedagogical worth which requires further study.  At the time of writing we have secured ethical approval for a project to advance our research further in this area.

During the conference Di was invited to meet the Mayor of Oslo at the Oslo City Hall, where the Nobel Peace Prize is presented annually as a thank you for our ground breaking research committed to advancing an understanding of domestic abuse across species.

An outcome of Di presenting our work on the international domestic abuse stage, is the fostering of links to collaborate with academics across countries.  It has led to developing key areas of research and impact including the creation and expansion of networking opportunities and the emerging knowledge transfer from our work to others in the field. Importantly, this has set the next step towards our research focused agenda to create an environment for ‘greening’ the domestic violence and abuse agenda addressing speciesism in the research and practice of domestic abuse and pet abuse.

In terms of outcomes/next steps Di and Ruth are working towards achieving the following 3 key targets in 2020-2021.

  1. Knowledge transfer and the sharing of creative innovations in this emerging cross- field, with the intent of greening the domestic violence and abuse agenda by addressing speciesism.
  2. The creation and expansion of networking opportunities across disciplines/sectors
  3. The facilitation of an open dialogue between key stakeholders.

 #domesticviolence #domesticabuse #pets #speciesism #anthropocentric #companionanimals

  • Dr Ruth E McKie
  • Di Turgoose

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a Senior Lecturer in the Community & Criminal Justice Division at DMU. Ruth’s PhD explored climate change denial & criminology.  She is subject expert in Environmental Crime & Harm, researching various crimes e.g. environmental crime & animal abuse. Contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @ruthmckie1

Di Turgoose is a Teacher Fellow & Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU.  She is a pracademic with 20 year’s work experience in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators & victims of crime.  She is subject expert in domestic abuse for the MOJ. Contact Di at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However, quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this

Beyond Domestic Violence, Companion Animals and Independent Agency: Why as criminologists we need to converse beyond speciesism, towards an intersectional approach

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This is Associate Professor Di Turgoose and Dr Ruth E. McKie’s 5th blog post in a series of 6 on pets and domestic abuse. This post focuses on the national reach of their work in the summer of 2019 at the ‘Hidden Victims’ panel of the British Society of Criminology (BSC) Annual conference where Di and Ruth were invited to present by the @victims BSC research group. You can access the victims research website here https://www.britsoccrim.org/victims-network/).

We were invited to contribute an academic paper to the Victimology Research Group Annual Panel on our work on pets and domestic abuse at the Annual BSC conference. You can access the British Society of Criminology website here (https://www.britsoccrim.org/conference/2019-bsc-annual-conference/).

The conference is the highlight of the criminologist’s calendar for the year in the UK with delegates travelling from across the world to attend. This provided us with a national platform to discuss our work bridging the boundaries between traditional victimology and a victimology that incorporates animal abuse and domestic abuse. Thus, we relished the opportunity of presenting to this audience which consisted of victimology experts in the domestic violence and abuse field, particularly as they may have been less familiar/unfamiliar with the concepts of speciesism and argumentation on human-animal relationships.

Our paper argued that the concept of denial of agency is equally applicable to the underexplored area of non-human animals namely pets as hidden victims of domestic abuse. We incorporated perspectives from eco-feminism and green criminology to challenge speciesism in the traditional Criminal Justice System and its practices in England and Wales.  In doing so, we proposed a theoretical and ontological diversification within the field of domestic abuse studies, to help give voice to non-humans as independent agents that experience domestic abuse.

Our paper was titled beyond Domestic Violence, Companion Animals and Independent Agency:  Why as criminologists we need to converse beyond speciesism, towards an intersectional approach. You can access our paper here https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18323

Through this presentation we planned to start a conversation that companion animals/pets should be recognised as victims experiencing domestic abuse and therefore worthy of victimhood status in their own ‘right.’ Following our paper others have contacted us to thank us for highlighting the issue, bringing awareness to it, and inform us of their interest and wish to collaborate.  At the time of writing we have subsequently been granted ethical approval for an empirical mixed methods study to progress our work in this area in 2020. 

#domesticviolence #companionanimals #pets #hiddenvictims #speciesism #eco-feminism

  • Dr Ruth E McKie
  • Di Turgoose

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a Senior Lecturer in the Community & Criminal Justice Division at DMU. Ruth’s PhD explored climate change denial & criminology.  She is subject expert in Environmental Crime & Harm, researching various crimes e.g. environmental crime & animal abuse. Contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @ruthmckie1

Di Turgoose is a Teacher Fellow & Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU.  She is a pracademic with 20 year’s work experience in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators & victims of crime.  She is subject expert in domestic abuse for the MOJ. Contact Di at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

Ontological Diversifications: Greening Domestic Violence and Abuse studies on Companion Animals

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This is Di Turgoose and Ruth McKie’s 4th blog post of six on pets and domestic abuse. This post focuses on the national reach of their work in the summer of 2019 at the British Criminological Society Annual Conference which was held in June 2019.

We were invited to contribute an academic paper to the Green Criminology panel ‘on deviance and social control in an age of ecological disorganisation’ on our work on pets and domestic abuse at the annual British Society of Criminology (BSC) conference. You can access their website here https://www.britsoccrim.org/conference/2019-bsc-annual-conference/. The conference is the highlight of the criminologist’s calendar for the year in the UK, with delegates travelling from across the world to attend. This invite to present provided us with a national platform to discuss our work. 

Commonly in the discipline of criminology, domestic abuse and animal abuse have been regarded as a separate subject area/domain of concern/study. Green criminologists have focused predominantly on the animal abuse area. As a result, we relished the opportunity of presenting to our audience which consisted of ‘green criminologists’ – researchers more familiar with concepts of speciesism and transforming our understanding of human-animal relationships in criminology – but who are not necessarily experts in the field of domestic abuse.

You can access our green criminology panel presentation which was entitled Ontological Diversifications: Greening Domestic Violence and Abuse studies on companion animals.  Protection, Prevention and Intervention here https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18202

Our paper utilised a common model within Domestic Violence studies: The Power and Control Wheel, (see Pence and Paymar in Johnson 2008). We argued that the concept of denial of agency is equally applicable to the underexplored area of pets as hidden victims of domestic abuse. We incorporated perspectives from eco-feminism and green criminology literature to challenge speciesism within domestic abuse studies and practice.  In doing so, we proposed a theoretical and ontological diversification within the field of domestic abuse studies, to help give voice to non-humans as independent agents that experience domestic abuse.

We were contacted by other academics concerned with animals as victims per se both after our immediate presentation and subsequently after our contribution was made a focus of the launch of the green criminology research group by the British Criminology society. We also appeared in the research groups inaugural research newsletter, which you can access here  https://spark.adobe.com/page/3iAGYUB92vdcK/

At the time of writing we have subsequently been granted ethical approval for an empirical mixed methods study to progress our work in this area in 2020. 

  • Di Turgoose
  • Dr Ruth E McKie

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a Senior Lecturer in the Community & Criminal Justice Division at DMU. Ruth’s PhD explored climate change denial & criminology.  She is subject expert in Environmental Crime & Harm, researching various crimes e.g. environmental crime & animal abuse. Contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter  @ruthmckie1

Di Turgoose is a Teacher Fellow & Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU.  She is a pracademic with 20 years work experience in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators & victims of crime.  She is subject expert in domestic abuse for the MOJ. Contact Di at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you would like to write a blog for the SVDV Research Network please contact Di Turgoose at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance

Domestic Abuse and Pets Research: Local Impact June 2019

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This is Di Turgoose and Ruth E. McKie’s third blog in a series of six on pets and domestic abuse.  This blog details the local reach, influence and impact of their work in the area of Companion Animals and Domestic Abuse in 2019, at a local event on June 21st 2019.

In June 2019, the Institute of Research in Criminology, Community Education and Social Justice (CCESJ) held their annual symposium at Leicester Castle Business School at De Montfort University, where we were invited to present our work by the Institute’s Director Dr Christina Quinlan. You can access more information about the Research Institute here. https://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/irccesj/index.aspx

Left Dr R. E. Mckie Right Di Turgoose

Here we presented a theoretical paper on our work on pets and domestic abuse to date. Our audience was an auditorium  of academics, pracademics and PhD students, whilst none of whom were ‘expert leads’ in domestic abuse, all were specialists from the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU which includes colleagues from Policing and Criminal Justice, Probation and Community Justice, Social Work, Youth and Community alongside Educationalists who are familiar with domestic abuse as a volume crime.

In our paper we acknowledged an uptick in recognition of the importance of ‘hidden’ victims of domestic abuse as a distinct topic for empirical study and practical policy in recent years. This has increased awareness that previously ‘invisible’ and ‘vulnerable’ victims, such as children as we argued in our poster presentation in an earlier blog (you can access our poster through dora at https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18324) should be given independent agency. That said whilst we welcome this progress it does not, we believe, go far enough.

Currently, non-human animal abuse is largely considered as a risk indicator (‘red flag’) for inter-human abuse in the Criminal Justice System and allied fields in domestic abuse relationships. Our aim at the symposium was to start a conversation concerning recognising non-human companion animals (‘pets’) as victims experiencing domestic abuse as worthy of victimhood status in their own ‘right.’ We argue, from this standpoint, that the concept of independent agency considered to apply to children is equally applicable to pets who are victims of domestic abuse. The overarching themes in our paper thus centred around pets, speciesism, , eco-feminism, intersectionality and victimhood.

We concluded our paper by asking our audience to re-assess ‘what should count as domestic abuse’ in light of our presented positionality. You can find our paper ‘realigning the domestic violence planet, bringing speciesism into focus and starting a conversation on a new intersectionality and victimhood’ here at  https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18321 Our input was met with much interest and we were overwhelmed to see the local impact through personal pledges made to challenge speciesist practice. 

This response spurred us on and informed our next steps in terms of planning empirical research on pets and domestic abuse and criminal justice organisational responses to this phenomenon.  At the time of writing we are in the data collection stage of a ground-breaking project in this area; we expect to present our initial findings by Mid-2020.

We will be posting  further blogs on this site and would welcome contact regarding our work which is continuing at speed.

Di Turgoose is a Teacher Fellow & Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU.  She is a pracademic with 20 years work experience in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators & victims of crime.  She is subject expert in domestic abuse for the MOJ. Contact Di at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a Senior Lecturer in the Community & Criminal Justice Division at DMU. Ruth’s PhD explored climate change denial & criminology.  She is subject expert in Environmental Crime & Harm, researching various crimes e.g. environmental crime & animal abuse. Contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter  @ruthmckie1

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

Pets and Domestic Abuse Research: Local Impact March 2019

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This is Di Turgoose and Ruth E. McKie’s second blog in a series of six on Pets/Companion Animals and Domestic Abuse. This blog details the local reach, influence and impact of their work in this under researched area at a local event on 1st March 2019.

The local event we refer to in this blog is the 3rd bi-annual conference hosted by De Montfort University’s (DMU) Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence (SVDV) Research Network, in partnership with members of the East Midlands Criminal and Civil Justice Working Group.  The conference focus was on children as victims of domestic abuse. Children are vulnerable as non-adults in households where domestic abuse takes place, as are pets.

We wanted to explore both the similarities and differences in the complexity of vulnerabilities in domestic abuse relationships by way of discussion with delegates at the conference.  We felt that a hard copy visual poster was the best mechanism to enable us to facilitate such a discussion. We entitled our poster ‘Children and Pets: The Hidden Victims of Domestic Abuse: Where Action & Activism merge’

Turgoose, D and McKie R. E. (2019) You can access our poster here https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/18324

Our poster was discussed by a wide range of delegates and stimulated many conversations and sharing of perspectives (both personal and organisational) regarding perceptions of and attitudes to pets being recognised as domestic abuse victims, in their own right.  We are grateful to Dr Christina Quinlan Director of the Institute of Research in Criminology, Community Education and Social Justice (CCESJ) for the funding grant that enabled us to print off our poster in hard copy for the conference.  You can access more information about Dr Quinlan’s Research Institute via this link here https://www.dmu.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/irccesj/index.aspx

In essence this event enabled us to raise awareness of the issues of pets as hidden vulnerable victims and explore the steps that need to be taken to draw attention to and develop a research and policy agenda that recognises pets as vulnerable victims in their own right in domestic abuse relationships in the future.  As researchers we are calling for a broader theoretical development to help raise awareness and understanding of the dynamics involved by utilising the exceptionally well known ‘Power and Control Wheel’ model (Pence and Paymer cited in Johnson 2006) which has been used solely for human victims previously. 

Raising this awareness has important implications for service delivery and community resources which may help professionals and advocates to develop the support mechanisms these victims really need to survive and best recover from the trauma of domestic abuse. This will be the scope of a project we will be undertaking in early 2020 as joint principal investigators.

REFERENCES

Pence, E.  and Paymar, in Johnson, M (2008) A Typology of Domestic Violence: Intimate Terrorism, Violent Resistance, and Situational Couple Violence London University Press

Turgoose, D and R. E McKie (2019) Children and Pets: The Hidden Victims of Domestic Violence & Abuse (DVA): Where Action & Activism merge! 3rd biannual SVDV Conference Sexual and Domestic Abuse in the lives of Children and Young People March 1st 2019

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

Dr Ruth E. McKie (below left) is a Senior Lecturer in the Division of Community and Criminal Justice at DMU. Ruth completed her PhD in 2018 exploring climate change denial and criminology.  She is a subject expert in Environmental Crime and Harm, conducting research in this field exploring various crimes such as environmental crime and animal abuse. You can contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @ruthmckie1

Di Turgoose (below right) is a Teacher Fellow, Aspiring National Teacher Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Sciences at DMU.  Di is a pracademic with 20 years experience working in the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators and victims of crime.  She is a subject expert in domestic abuse alongside being an expert advisor for the Ministry of Justice. You can contact Di on di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Di-and-ruth-carousel1.jpg

If you feel that you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

New Book: Domestic Violence in Health Contexts: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals contains chapter by DMU colleague Dr Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith

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This recently published edited text from Springer Publishers (December 2019) includes a chapter by Dr Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith from DMU. Kathryn’s chapter is entitled ‘Barriers and Opportunities to Effective Identification and Management of Domestic Violence and Abuse.” 

This book explores the complexities of health care and is foremost healthcare focused. The book is taking a broad health focused approach towards Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA).

It is now well established that DVA exerts a significant and detrimental impact on the health and well-being of those who experience abuse. Universally healthcare professionals encounter individuals and families where DVA is or has taken place.

This book is beneficial to a range of health care professionals through an exploration of theories and classifications of DVA, consideration of DVA in different contexts and consideration of the core issues surrounding working with individuals and families where DVA has been identified. It provides a much needed evidence based addition to the existing texts in this field in terms of the inclusion of real life scenarios, reflective exercises and pointers for further practice development.

This book is a key point of reference for professionals working within a broad range of health care environments.

You can obtain a sneak peek of some of the content or purchase from the publisher here by clicking this link

https://www.springer.com/fr/book/9783030293604

Decriminalising Adolescent to Parent Violence

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In this blog Bettinson and Quinlan argue that Adolescents below the age of 16 who coerce and control a parent should not be criminalised by the controlling or coercive behaviour offence under s. 76 Serious Crime Act 2015. They call for an amendment to s. 76 Serious Crimes Act that removes young people aged 16 or below from the ambit of the offence, due to their vulnerability thereby de-criminalising coercive and controlling Adolescent to Parent Violence.

We (Vanessa Bettinson and Christina Quinlan) published an article in November 2019 exploring the appropriateness of including adolescent to parent violence (APV) within the elements of a criminal offence designed to criminalise domestic violence and abuse (DVA). The offence, s. 76 Serious Crime Act 2015 prohibits controlling and coercive behaviours towards a person personally connected to the defendant. This spans on-going intimate relationships and a wide range of family relationships, which contrasts with the domestic abuse offence introduced in Scotland by s. 1 Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2019. The Scottish offence applies only to those in a current or former intimate relationship. Interestingly, Fiona Cairns (2017) criticises the Scottish exclusion of other family relationships from the ambit of the offence arguing that further debate is needed to justify placing abusive behaviours towards intimate partners above other forms of family relationships. She queries whether there is enough difference between abuse taking place in different family relationships. For our part, we believe that APV is sufficiently different for it to be excluded from s. 76 Serious Crime Act 2015.

We conducted a small-scale research study that looked at practitioner’s understandings of APV, and found that many cases of APV that we looked at could satisfy the s. 76 offence. The initial study was funded by Leicester City Council and the final report is available on the svdv.org website at: https://www.svdv.org.uk/apv-project/ Our article examines the correlation between the concept of coercive control and APV, noting that there are significant differences that justify treating adolescent-perpetrators of APV differently to adult-perpetrators of intimate partner coercive control in the criminal law. These factors concern the unique vulnerabilities of both the parent-victim and the adolescent-perpetrator in APV and human rights law requires the equal protection of both parties on the basis of their vulnerability.

Parent-victims have limited capacity to escape the behaviour of the adolescent-perpetrator as they have parental responsibility and emotional bonds towards them and consequently are unwilling to pursue the criminalisation of their child. There is a stigma attached to a parent’s inability to control their child’s behaviour and to ideas of abandoning your child. For the adolescent-perpetrator, whilst their behaviour overlaps with the abusive behaviour of an adult, their position is different in that they are unable to completely breakdown a parent’s autonomy as the parent controls the child’s finances, food and shelter. However, this depreciates as the child matures and the justification for excluding the child from criminalisation who abuses their parent diminishes. We suggest that the domestic violence and abuse policy definition (Home Office circular 003/2013 Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-government-domestic-violence-and-abuse-definition) that states domestic abuse can occur from the age of 16, informs the coercive and controlling behaviour offence enabling children and adolescents below that age to be excluded from its parameters.

The full text of the article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018319879845

Reference

I.C.M. Cairns, ‘What counts as ‘domestic’? Family Relationships and the proposed criminalisation of domestic abuse in Scotland’ (2017) 21(2) Edinburgh Law Review 262

Dr Christina Quinlan (left) is a VC2020 Senior Lecturer in Criminology at DMU. Her email is Christina.Quinlan@dmu.ac.uk

Professor Vanessa Bettinson (right) is an Academic located in the Law School at DMU. Her email is v.bettinson@dmu.ac.uk

Domestic Violence and Abuse, ‘Pets’ and Agency: A conversation we need to have and a call for action 2019

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In this first blog in a series of six co-authors Di Turgoose and Dr Ruth E. McKie outline their recent (2019) work on pets/companion animals and domestic violence and abuse. In essence Ruth and Di have started a conversation about, and have called into question the idea of ‘persons’ specifically who and what counts as a victim/survivor in domestic violence and abuse ‘cases’.

Pets/companion animals now play an important role in a western society household. Indeed, there are more households in the UK that have a pet/ companion animal, than have children. In 2018, a total of 45% of 13 million households in the United Kingdom had a pet/companion animal (https://www.pfma.org.uk/pet-population-2019) ). 26% of these were dogs, 18% cats, and the rest included horses and/or other forms of small animals, reptiles and birds. Unfortunately, pets/companion animals also make up households/families where there is evidence of domestic violence and abuse.  It is at the intersection of  pets and domestic violence and abuse  where our research interest as activist, pracademic, victimologist, criminologist and feminist scholars located in the domain of social sciences and criminal justice practice lies.

Evidence has existed for decades including Fitzgerald’s  initial and subsequent research in the early noughties indicating that domestic violence and abuse survivors  (if they do indeed survive) do not leave, have delayed leaving, or have returned to a domestically abusive and violent relationship because of a concern for their companion animals/pets’ safety and welfare (You can read some of Fitzgerald’s work here e.g. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/016059760703100405) This means that for many victims/survivors, they feel that they cannot leave/escape/flee violence and abuse. This in part, is because of a lack of appropriate protection and intervention strategies and resources for their beloved pets/companion animals, despite the best efforts of both the specialist domestic violence sector and animal welfare agencies.  It is evident to us in our own observational practice that the situation today remains relatively constant and unchanged.

This poses some important research questions that remain unanswered or underdeveloped. These we have felt compelled to pursue since we the authors of this blog first met as academics working at the interface of criminology and victimology in the Community and Criminal Justice Division at De Montfort University. One important question is why when we appear, especially given the above figures, to be a ‘nation of pets lovers’ in the ‘UK,’ that the provision for the safety and well- being of pets is not given more priority per se? Moreover, why are companion animals/pets appear to be largely relegated to a ‘risk flag’ indicator of inter-human abuse in agencies with responsibility for ‘dealing with’ domestic violence ‘cases.’ This is especially problematic given what we know about the heightened risk of homicide (given the gendered nature of domestic violence and abuse read femicide) when a victim/survivor is considering leaving/fleeing?  Vexed and perplexed about the lack of co-ordinated attention to the issue of pets/companion animals and domestic violence and abuse, we have embarked on a number of research projects and organised engagement events on the phenomenon in an effort to call for the starting and the re-starting of conversations locally, nationally and internationally on the issue of pets/companion animals  and domestic violence and abuse.

From the outset, it is important for us to be clear that what we call for in domestic violence and abuse studies, practice and thinking is not to merely shift the concept of family domestic violence and abuse/coercive control to include pets/companion animals. Rather we contend that, we must in fact shift towards seeing animals, and thus pets/companion animals, as ‘somebody’ that can/should be treated as an independent being. In our view, animals possess agency and person hood in their own right, not simply the property of or as secondary to humans as a speciesist lens would afford. This will require a pivotal paradigm shift in the way society currently thinks and acts about our relationship with animals, if we are to achieve a whole system change to end violence against animals, and in this specific case, pets/companion animals which includes in domestic violence and abuse settings.

To this end, we will be exploring over the course of three further blogs the development of our ideas which demonstrate our success locally, nationally and internationally with regard impact and reach this summer about our work on pets/companion animals and domestic violence and abuse.  A journey that started with a conversation in the office concerning the poster (see insert above) on display on one of our desks by Juno Women’s Aid (previously known as Women’s Aid Integrated Services W.A.I.S.) and has culminated, thus far with an invite from the Mayor of Oslo in Norway to the City Hall, the location of the prestigious Nobel peace prize presentation each year and towards some potential collaborative working with others.

We will be posting  further blogs on this site and would welcome contact regarding our work which is continuing at speed.

Di Turgoose is a Teacher Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Community and Criminal Justice Division at DMU.  Di is a pracademic with 20 years direct experience of working within the Criminal Justice System with perpetrators and victims of crime especially related to sex offending and domestic abuse.  She is a subject expert in domestic abuse and lead on related research informed modules alongside guest lecturing for colleagues on her specialism. Di co convenes the Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence Research Network at DMU. You can contact Di on di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @pracademiccrime

Dr Ruth E. McKie is a lecturer in the Division of Community and Criminal Justice at DMU. Ruth completed her PhD in 2018 exploring climate change denial and criminology.  She is a subject expert in Environmental Crime and Harm, conducting research in this field exploring various crimes such as environmental crime and animal abuse. You can contact Ruth on ruth.mckie@dmu.ac.uk or via twitter @ruthmckie1

All content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied.  However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

If you feel you might be interested in submitting a guest blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

Giving a Royal voice to gender – based violence and sexual violence

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This is a guest blog written by Dr Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith who is a Senior Research Fellow at De Montfort University in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. The blog discusses the important focussed work Kathryn has been involved in with colleagues on raising the profile of gender – based violence within South Africa, which has received Royal approval. Should you wish to contact Kathryn about her work you are welcome to do either via twitter #@HinsliffK  or via email at  Kathryn.hinsliff-smith@dmu.ac.uk

During September 2019 it was impossible to miss the news that British Royalty were visiting Southern Africa including South Africa (see BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49812846). Whether a Royal follower or not it was during their time in Cape Town that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, engaged with a local NGOs (see https://www.justicedesk.org/) who provide programmes for young people and victims of sexual violence and rape. As anticipated the international press reported every word and recorded many pictures of the Duke and Duchess visiting and talking about the rise in sexual violence in South Africa.

As a Senior Research Fellow academic at De Montfort University I am aware of the consequences of domestic violence having been involved in research and developing evidence-based healthcare interventions since 2012.

The statistics speak for themselves. Gender based violence (GBV) – which includes sexual violence (SV) – is a significant global public health and societal problem. It has also been recognised as a global human rights issue by the World Health Organisation. Global estimates indicate that 1 in 3 women experience physical/sexual violence in their lifetime. GBV/SV exerts a detrimental impact not only on the lives and health of women, but also those who witness abuse – especially children. GBV/SV has been identified as a large – scale problem in South Africa with recorded estimates that a woman is raped every seventeen seconds. While up to one half of all women have experienced a lifetime history of GBV/SV from a partner.

The impact of GBV/SV on the physical and psychological well being of those who experience abuse is wide ranging. It includes the immediate physical effects for example, physical injury as well as longer term chronic ill health as a result, acute and enduring psychological trauma, mental ill-health, substance and alcohol misuse, self-harm and suicide alongside secondary physiological health issues such as gynaecological, sexual health and gastro-intestinal health problems. For those who experience sexual violence this may include significant harms such as unwanted pregnancy and as such health care professionals (HCPs) are well placed to respond to those affected by GBV/SV.

Whilst South Africa is not the only country to experience forms of gender based violence, including sexual violence, it is clear from the report published in 2002 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/ that actions are still required if the continuing rise in violence, including sexual violence is to be addressed.

In July 2019 I was privileged to visit Pretoria in South Africa along with academic colleagues from The University of Nottingham.

Please see picture from left to right my colleagues on our project which include Associate Professor Julie McGarry (Julie’s contact details are supplied at the foot of this post)  Gill Langmack  whom can be contacted via twitter at #@gill_langmack,  Dr Heike Bartel and myself (front right).

As part of a prestigious Global Challenges Research Fund we secured a research grant to develop digital resources to support healthcare professionals providing care to women and girls who have experienced sexual violence. You can read about this on this link https://www.ukri.org/research/global-challenges-research-fund/)

Working with women survivors of sexual violence supported by a local NGO (https://www.tears.co.za/), healthcare students and academics from Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) (https://www.smu.ac.za/) was a true privilege. During our visit we began to understand the issues of sexual violence for survivors but also the issues that healthcare care professionals and local authorities face in order to provide the right support, at the right time. What was abundantly clear is that sexual violence needs to be everyone one’s concern. This was echoed when the Deputy Minister of Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities of South Africa Professor Hlengiwe Buhle Mkhize (https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/hlengiwe-buhle-mkhize-prof) attended our programme and gave an impassioned speech about the rights of women and children and the need for greater understanding of approaches to support victims.

We are delighted that in some way this new digital resource, to be launched in December 2019, will raise the profile of the issues around gender based violence and sexual violence. Further details can be located on the project From Silence 2 Voice https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/toolkits/play_21204

I would welcome contact about this blog/our work on the contact details supplied earlier.

You might also wish to contact Kathryn’s colleague Julie McGarry who was also instrumental in the project. Julie is Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, School of Health Sciences and is the Safeguarding Research Lead – Sexual Safety for Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Julie can also be contacted  via twitter at #@DrJulieMcGarry or via email at Julie.McGarry@nottingham.ac.uk

 

 

Guidelines for authors considering submitting a blog to us

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If you feel you might be interested in submitting a blog for us please contact di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss this.

We would ask that those considering compiling a blog post for us use the following parameters

All blogs must be written in English and be conversational in style

Authors should include:

  • Title of the article (no more than 10 words)
  • Word count (approximately 500 but we are flexible)
  • Author(s ) full name, affiliation, email address, and own website/blogsite address (if available) (not included in word count)
  • Author photo (copyright free/permission must be given)
  • Article photo (copyright free/permission should be given)
  • Meta-description of 100-140 characters
  • Up to 5 keywords (with a hashtag please)

The following is also required

  • References: We ask that these should be kept to a minimum but links to relevant sites are encouraged
  • Format: Articles must be in Microsoft Word (or compatible format), typed in double spacing throughout, in Calibri font
  • Subheadings: Please do not use subheadings
  • Endnotes or footnotes: Please do not use these
  • Lengthy quotations: these should be avoided
  • Poor quality artwork will be rejected
  • Articles should be carefully checked for errors before submission
  • Authors are responsible to the accuracy of their work, and for obtaining permissions and copyright clearances
  • NB: Disclaimer: All blog articles are made available on the understanding that the publisher, editors and authors will not accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions (express or implied) that it may contain.
  • NB: The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the DMU SVDV Research Network. Any content posted remains the property of the author(s) and must not be copied. However quoting some part of the content is allowed provided you link back to the original article.

Best Di and Vanessa

Dr Melanie McCarry: Keynote speaker at conference 1st March 2019

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CANCELLED

Dr Melanie McCarry, Strathclyde University, School of Social Work and Social Policy, is presenting her keynote at DMU’s SVDV Research Network’s latest Conference to be held on 1st March 2019. The theme of the conference is Sexual and Domestic Abuse in the Lives of Children and Young People and Melanie’s work as lead researcher in the Equally Safe in Further and Higher Education project (tiny.cc.equallysafeHE) will provide an ideal insight into this area. Following the project a Toolkit was developed to implement Scottish Government Equally Safe strategy on gender-based violence in Further and Higher education. The Scottish Government have recommended that all HE and FE institutions implement the Toolkit.

McCarry, M., Donaldson, A., McCullough, A., McGoldrick, R. and Stevenson, K. (2018) Equally Safe in Higher Education Research Tookit. Glasgow: University of Strathclyde.

Melanie is also the Programme Director for the BA Social Policy and teaches across this programme and the Masters in Social Policy programmes. Melanie has published widely on men’s violence against women and children, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, forced marriage and abuse in same-sex relationships and on gender constructions specifically masculinity. For over two decades Melanie has worked collaboratively with colleagues in both academia and the feminist activist movement. Melanie is also currently developing the first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on Forced Marriage to be launched spring 2019.

Pat Branigan from the NSPCC delivered keynote at Conference on Sexual and Domestic Abuse in the Lives of Children and Young People. 1st March 2019

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DMU’s SVDV Research Network partnered with Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland’s Civil and Criminal Justice Working Group to host a conference for practitioners and academics on Sexual and Domestic Abuse in the Lives of Children and Young People in March 2019. We had the pleasure of welcoming Pat Branigan from the NSPCC to join our other excellent key note speakers . He leads on the NSPCC’s response to child sexual abuse, with a focus on the prevention of harmful sexual behaviour adopted by children and young people.

SVDV Co-convenor Chairing Inside Government Event: Tackling Sexual Violence and Harassment in Higher Education, 20th Nov 2018

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Vanessa Bettinson chaired this Inside Government event at the Congress Centre in London. The event provided a forum for attendees to discuss and examine new guidelines for tackling sexual misconduct across the higher education (HE) sector alongside leading organisations such as Universities UK and Office for Students.

Key note speakers include:

  • Fiona Waye, Senior Policy Lead – Inclusion, Equality and Diversity, Universities UK
  • Sarah Lasoye, Women’s Officer, National Union of Students
  • Dan Aldridge, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Advisor, Office for Students

Further details about the event can be found here!

Highly Regarded Sexualised Trauma Specialist delivered keynote at conference on March 1st 2019

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We were delighted that Zoe Lodrick accepted our invitation to join our other excellent keynote speaker, Pat Branigan (NSPCC) at our March 2019 conference, organised with our friends from the Civil and Criminal Justice Working Group (DV). Of her many credentials Zoe was honoured to deliver the inaugural Moira Jones Memorial Lecture, at COPFS Annual Conference in Glasgow, and to be awarded the Moira Jones Memorial Bowl in recognition of her work to increase understanding of sexualised trauma within the criminal justice system in 2010.

She is an inspirational speaker for the delegates at our conference on Sexual and Domestic Abuse in the Lives of Children and Young People, which included practitioners in statutory agencies and voluntary organisations, academics, students and members of the public. We welcomed people from local, national and international regions.

SVDV Seminar: John Worboys and Parole Board decision-making? 24th September

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DMU’s SVDV Research Network’s were delighted to host Danielle Bates and Professor Gavin Dingwall from DMU’s School of Law on 24th September 2018.

They presented a paper entitled:

How has the John Worboys decision altered Parole Board decision-making?

Danielle and Gavin provided an overview of the High Court decision to quash a recommendation to release serial sex offender John Worboys taken by the Parole Board. After discussing the background to the case, they focused on three aspects of the ruling: that the decision made by the Parole Board was not irrational; the use of evidence in decision-making; and the changes that were made to the Parole Board rules following the decision. They assessed how these changes are operating in practice and how it will affect those offenders coming before the Parole Board in future.

Danielle graduated from DMU Law School this summer and has been working with Professor Dingwall as a research assistant.

Professor Gavin Dingwall has interests in a number of areas of criminal law and penology and is author of several esteemed publications including Blamestorming, Blamemongers and Scapegoats: Allocating blame in the criminal justice process (with Tim Hillier, Policy Press, 2016).

The seminar was well attended by members of the network and wider friends, which prompted a lively debate.

Sexual Abuse & Domestic Abuse in the lives of Children and Young Adults: Conference

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De Montfort University Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence (SVDV) Research Network Conference 2019

Sexual Abuse and Domestic Abuse in the lives of children and young people

In partnership with Criminal and Civil Justice Working Group (CCJWG)

Friday 1st March 2019

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN

This is an event of key interest to practitioners, policy makers, academics, students, victim/survivors and members of the public.

This conference is a forum to discuss all the various ways the lives of children and young people (aged 0-26) are affected by all forms of sexual violence/abuse and domestic violence/abuse. The spaces children and young people experience these issues either as victims or perpetrators is no longer confined to the ‘domestic’ location of home, expanding into virtual spaces and university campuses for example. The conference allows delegates to consider abusive behaviours that contribute to sexual violence and domestic violence of our children, adolescents and young adults, such as sexual harassment, stalking and intimidation methods from the perspectives of those who are subject to it and those who carry it out.

This subject concerns everybody, regardless of discipline or practice, organisation or age, in order to achieve a world free from sexual violence and domestic violence. That is why this conference invites you to participate and share you research and practice, regardless of your field or level of experience.

AIMS:

  • To increase knowledge and understanding of these issues in respect of children and young people across a broad range of experiences, professional roles, responsibilities and subject disciplines.
  • To advance understandings of diverse experiences of such behaviours and their impact from victim/survivor and perpetrator perspectives.
  • To develop and advance understandings of good practice across disciplines and agencies in addressing sexual violence and domestic violence as experienced by children and young people.

To achieve this by:

  • Knowledge transfer and the sharing of creative innovations in this field
  • The creation and expansion of networking opportunities
  • The facilitation of an open dialogue between key stakeholders.

Service User Involvement Event 15th June 2018

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Empowering those affected by sexual or domestic violence: What does service user involvement mean and how can it be implemented across service providers?

This well attended event was hosted by members of the network: Professor Julie Fish, Ana Szabo and Di Turgoose, following their work on service user involvement funded by the Leicester City Council and supported by a number of local service providers.

Discussions were plentiful and future plans for developing research in this area and supporting service user involvement in services are under development.

 

 

 

 

SVDV Network Meeting Wed 25th April 1-4: Response to Domestic Abuse Consultation

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You are invited to participate in DMU’s SVDV Research Network’s next meeting where we will discuss our response to the Domestic Abuse Consultation. The Consultation launched on 8 March 2018 and looks at measures to be included in the draft Domestic Abuse Bill.

You can read more about the consultation here: https://consult.justice.gov.uk/homeoffice-moj/domestic-abuse-consultation/

Whether you are a local academic, a member of an external local statutory or charitable agency or a victim/survivor you are all welcome.

If you are able to join us on the 25th April 1-4 please could you contact Di Turgoose at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk<mailto:di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk>  to confirm your attendance.

If you are unable to attend on the 25th April but would like to contribute or have any queries please contact Di Turgoose at di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk<mailto:di.turgoose@dmu.ac.uk>

After the meeting, Di Turgoose will finalise the response on the SVDV network’s behalf.

The Chatham House Rule will apply to the event and any correspondence received. This means that whilst your name and organisational affiliation will be included in the list of contributors to the response, they will not be attributed to any  of your comments or views, which will remain anonymous. We may use your anonymous contributions in further research about the UK government’s approach to the protection of survivors and legislation around domestic abuse.

Coercion, Trauma and Women in the Criminal Justice System (12 May 2017, 2-4pm)

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I Felt Trapped And I Couldn’t See Another Option: Women Co-offenders’ Pathways Into Crime And Experiences Of Coercion

Dr Charlotte Barlow (Lancaster University) will discuss the growing body of literature which supports the claim that women follow distinct and often gendered pathways into crime. (Daly, 1992; Belknap & Holsinger, 2006).

Women Offenders, Trauma and Community Based Interventions

Sara Swire, CEO (New Dawn New Day) will discuss the work of the charity New Dawn New Day, which has sought to improve the lives of women and girls particularly those who have complex needs for almost 30 years.

This seminar will focus on women in the criminal justice system, but it will also be of wider interest to colleagues in other fields of discipline and practice whose work relate to trauma and the use of coercion.
This seminar is open to all staff, students, statutory and voluntary sector.

Registration: Email Vanessa Bettinson vbettinson@dmu.ac.uk

Took place 12 May 2017

Flyer for Coercion and Trauma seminar (PDF)

 

Coercion and Control Conference hosted at DMU (11th Nov 2016)

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The Coercion and Control in the commission of sexual violence and domestic violence  conference was a great success at De Montfort University on the 11th November 2016. With fantastic inputs from: Ruth Aitken from REFUGE, Vanessa Bettinson from DMU and Professor Anne-Marie McAlinden from Queen’s University Belfast. Cross cutting discipline presentations from Media, Law, Arts, Social Work, Health and Criminology. Pictured here are the Written Foundations company that include actors, writers and directors who produced a powerful piece of drama for the event, drawing upon the real life experiences of survivors and practitioners.

For more information, see:

2016 Conference – Keynote Speakers

2016 Conference – Keynote Abstracts

Students interview Leicester SV DV practitioners for research project

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Undergraduate Criminology students, Sophie Hoey, Aleksandra Smagiel and Kayleigh Perrett (pictured here with their supervisor Sarah Hilder) have been working hard over the summer 2016 period interviewing local professionals and researching strategies which might increase public engagement with SVDV issues and support. They are reporting back to Leicester City colleagues in the autumn and their work will also form the basis of their final year dissertations for their degrees!

Dr Lisa Oakley, ‘Exploring Spiritual Abuse and the implications for policy and practice’: SVDV seminar hosted at DMU (8 June 2016)

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On Wednesday 8th June 2016, Dr Lisa Oakley (pictured) presented a seminar at DMU entitled: “The whole thing is based on fear- this is abuse and people need to know that” – Exploring Spiritual Abuse and the implications for policy and practice.

Lisa-story-pic-560x300pxThis seminar explored the topic of spiritual abuse. This form of abuse is attracting growing attention in light of changes to the definitions of domestic violence to include coercion and control and in response to the prevent agenda. Understanding psychological and emotional abuse in faith settings is of increasing importance. This seminar firstly explored what Spiritual Abuse is, the impact it has on the individual and links between spiritual abuse and other forms of abuse. It then considered challenges for safeguarding policy and practice and report recent advances in these areas.

Dr Lisa Oakley is programme leader for the only undergraduate course in Abuse Studies in the UK based at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research is principally in the area of Spiritual abuse and safeguarding in faith based organisations. In 2013 Lisa co-authored a book entitled ‘Breaking the Silence on Spiritual Abuse’ this was published by Palgrave MacMillan and is the first book based on empirical research on this topic in the UK. Lisa has spoken extensively on the topic of spiritual abuse across the UK at national and international conferences. Lisa has taught in Higher Education for over 20 years.

Dr Alison Phipps: ‘Lad Culture and Sexual Violence’, SVDV seminar hosted at DMU (9 July 2015)

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Alison-Phipps-with-book-coverOn 9 July 2015, SVDV hosted a research seminar on “Lad Culture” and Sexual Violence in Higher Education, presented by Dr Alison Phipps University of Sussex. The seminar workshop explored sexism, sexual harassment and violence at UK universities and the phenomenon of ‘lad culture’, which has been exposed by the NUS ‘That’s What She Said’ report and other research. ‘Lad culture’ is defined as a set of behaviours characterised by sexist banter and competitive sexual activity drawing upon normative gender roles and expectations. It may be engaged in by a minority of young men (and some women), but it has broad social and cultural reach via social media and the commodification of student cultures and nightlife. It can also be associated with the backlash against feminism and increased gender equality, and the competitive, individualistic cultures of higher education marketization. Issues around ‘lad culture’, its links to sexual violence and how to tackle were explored via a short presentation and interactive discussion, with a particular focus on actions which could be taken by managers, staff and students in future.

Dr Alison Phipps is co-author of the 2013 NUS report on lad culture entitled ‘That’s What She Said’, and is Director of Gender Studies at the University of Sussex. Her work focuses on the politics of gender and the body, in particular debates in the areas of violence, ‘deviance’, education, and health. https://genderate.wordpress.com/ladculture

LGBT Community and Domestic Violence research networking event, hosted at DMU (24 September 2014)

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(Pictured) Vanessa Bettinson of DMU’s Law School and Sarah Hilder of DMU’s Criminal and Community Justice Division were the academic co-hosts of De Montfort University’s colloquium on The LGBT Community and Domestic Violence. Challenges to Prevention, Protection and Intervention, in September 2014.

The day event featured a series of presentations and debate led by leading academics, professionals and campaigners

  • Raising awareness of the particular issues experienced by members of the LGBT community in relation to domestic violence and abuse.
  • The identification of regulatory and practical implementation challenges in relation to legal and policy provisions and the experiences of domestic violence by the LGBT community.
  • An evaluation of the extent to which sexual orientation is legitimately accommodated within legal structures, statutory and community based responses to domestic violence and abuse.
  • An exploration of how a proactive dialogue with LGBT community groups on the issue of domestic violence and abuse can be sustained

A discussion of possible frameworks that may be developed to continue research, policy and practice developments in this arena.

For abstracts and further information about this event, see:

Abstracts LGBT Event, 24 September 2014

Flyer for LGBT Event, 24 September 2014

Safeguarding and promoting well-being in the context of sexual violence and domestic violence Conference (4 November 2014)

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Tuesday 4th November 2014 saw DMU host the 3rd annual Leicester City Council Children and Adults Safeguarding Boards Conference, on this year’s theme of Addressing Sexual Violence and Domestic Violence.

Pictured are Assistant Chief Constable Roger Bannister, Leicestershire Police, Vanessa Bettinson, DMU, and David Jones, Independent Chair of the Adult and Children’s Safeguarding Boards.

The event was run in partnership with the two safeguarding boards, RESPECT and the Business and Law and HLS Faculties at DMU. A welcome address was delivered by Dr Simon Oldroyd, the Acting Dean of the HLS faculty. Practitioners from across the city from services engaging with survivors and perpetrators of abuse attended, with a rich selection of workshops to choose from, including national agencies such as Coordinated Action for Domestic Abuse (CAADA) and Women’s Aid, to locally based providers such as SAFE and FreeVa.

DMU academics also contributed, sharing research findings and project ideas and many thanks to Josie Solomon, Annette Crisp, Diane Wensley, Myira Khan and Di Turgoose for their excellent inputs. Students from across the HLS and B&L faculties also attended and it was also great to see past graduates from the Criminology and the Probation programmes at De Montfort now established in various professional roles with the agencies represented.

Conference Details (PDF)

IDVC Interdisciplinary Domestic Violence Conference, hosted at DMU (16 December 2013)

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The Interdisciplinary Domestic Violence Conference was a joint enterprise hosted between the Faculties of Business and Law, and Health and Life Sciences at De Montfort University, Leicester. It aims were to explore the challenges of securing prevention and protection for domestic violence victims in the legal arena, and to explore legal and community inter-agency relationships. It provided a forum which brought together community professionals, legal practitioners and academics in order to develop a co- operative network to improve communication links between these key stakeholders.

Keynote Speakers (pictured above) included: Rosa Logar, Director Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE), Mandy Burton Professor in Law, Leicester University, Siobhan Blake, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor (DCCP) of Cymru / Wales Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

For further information on this conference, see:

IDVC Conference Report (16 December 2013)

IDVC Conference flyer (16 December 2013)