C C Smale Family Lawyer

I had missed the BBC Radio 4 program, Law in Action on 22nd June which questioned the statistics which formed the basis of the Police’s campaign against domestic violence during the World Cup. It would appear that there is no such statistical basis.

The dishonesty did not bother two of the guests on the program; the Deputy Chief Constable of Gwent Police  says the campaign “was never about the reliability of the figures” and the guest from AVA admits that the Data was “very dodgy”. Both openly stated that the dishonesty was not the issue; the issue was that the campaign resulted in resources being deployed.

In other words the fact that it was all a lie does not matter as long as they justified their funding.

I am grateful for this article here.

This one too.

I wrote a few days ago about the campaign being run by Police Forces and the domestic violence industry promoting awareness of “increased domestic abuse” during the World Cup. Now the tournament in South Africa has started the marketing campaing is in full swing and I have come across few who question the motives.

If you promote a thing enough it is inevitable that the numbers of people who take up the services on offer will increase. As family law solicitors we are taught to “screen” new cases that come to us for signs of “abuse”. NHS staff are given similar training as are the Police. The absurdity is that anything as trivial as a raised voice becomes interpreted as “violence” – the definition of violence is ever expanding.

If you make everyone aware of their rights as a victim – and if you sell victimhood as an easy enough and attractive enough proposition for women that is the option more and more women will take up. Prosecution of domestic violence cases by the police and the courts is ruthless, as many woman who have tried to retract  statements will have found out.

We are constantly told a message that two women die from domestic violence a week – (interestingly the number of men who die is rarely revealed to us and I will leave my thoughts on this to another day). There are a number of women who keep returning to seriously violent relationships. Anyone who has been in this industry long knows this but the market for domestic violence services needs to expand to justify the industry.

You can be certain that there is a powerful agenda to help women to leave relationships. There are too few voices suggesting people try to stay together.

Update – I have found a helpful analysis of the dubious figures from 2006 here.