The justice system is failing domestic abuse victims

Remember the days when our TV screens were full of men cracking jokes about ‘giving the missus a backhander’ if she complained about him coming home drunk? That was back when rank misogyny dominated police forces, and domestic violence was described as a private matter ‘between a man and his wife’.  

Then along came those pesky feminists, demanding that domestic violence be treated in the same way as a man beating up another man in the street. These women set up domestic violence helplines and refuges without government funding, staffed by volunteers. This began in the late sixties and early seventies, so it would be fair to assume that things have improved beyond recognition since then.

Not so. Figures released this week show that between 2020 and 2023, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline recorded a 40 per cent rise in victims (overwhelmingly women reporting violent men) seeking advice about the criminal justice system (CJS).