I am grateful for the invitation to be here today. Domestic violence is a serious and a searing issue. It is an issue of great concern. We all have a responsibility to tackle it.
Can I begin by thanking you: not so much for coming here today, important though that is, but for all the work you do on this vital issue. Trying to help the victims of domestic violence, and trying to prevent the perpetrators of domestic violence, is a tough, hard, harrowing job. All those who are engaged in this work deserve the thanks not just of me, or of the government, but of us all, across our society.
For two women to be killed every week in this country by domestic violence by their partners or ex-partners may well be a statistic that is well-known to everyone in this room. But just because we are all familiar with it should not blunt us to how shocking it is. We should never forget that it is an appalling, a despicable, a disgusting statistic: those who carry out these outrageous acts are of course primarily to blame - but this is too a statistic which shames us all.
While that kind of figure features in our society, we cannot and do not have the kind of society and the kind of country all of us want to see, and all of us want to live in. That's why the work you and so many others do is so important.
That's why too I am grateful to be able to speak at this launch today of the findings from the evaluation of specialist domestic violence courts. I am particularly pleased to be able to place on public record my determination that the courts, including the magistracy and the judiciary, should play their part in helping survivors of domestic violence and their children rebuild their sometimes shattered lives.
I know something, though of course only something, of how tough these things can be. For example: a few months ago, I was privileged to talk to some survivors of domestic violence when I spoke at a conference on the issue in Norwich.
I was deeply struck by both the dreadfulness of the experiences of the women who talked to me, and their courage in doing so - let alone their astonishing courage in dealing with the attacks and the violence which had been made upon them. In quiet, matter-of-fact tones, they told their stories: sometimes bleak, sometimes chilling, always incredibly difficult. But no-one could fail to be humbled by the determination, the resilience and the strength they were bringing to dealing with their problems, and the hugely impressive support and help they were getting from those working with them. They were willing to talk because they felt they were protected by the system. Sadly, and all too often, that pattern has to be repeated across our country: the challenge to us all is to work towards ending it.
I believe that today's report is an important step towards that. We said in our manifesto that we would consider whether specialist courts could offer more effective protection for domestic violence victims. This report is part of that - and I believe that the initial findings from the report look promising.
I was very encouraged that the report indicates that specialist courts are enabling domestic violence issues to be tackled within a multi agency framework designed with 'the specific needs to victims of domestic violence in mind'.
That is exactly as it should be: the public, in this case victims of domestic violence, right at the heart of what we do.
I want this morning to look at three key areas:
The problem of domestic violence itself, and the problems which surround it
What we're doing to try to tackle these problems
And where we want to get to in what we're doing
My department's role in this issue is clear. My department, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, has the responsibility within government for running the courts service, within our overall objective of securing justice, rights and democracy.
Domestic violence is central to justice, and central to people's rights. People have a right to be secure, to be free from crime - and if there is crime, they have a right to that crime being dealt with justly, whether as victim or defendant.
I believe this is especially important in relation to victims of domestic violence. Justice must be done. And justice must be seen to be done. If it is not, then not only will domestic violence increase, but people will not have the courage and the confidence they need to take a stand against domestic violence. We have an obligation to help the victims of violence to take that stand, to make sure that the mechanisms we as a society have in place to help do so: that they provide the proper redress and protection that people have a right to expect, and that to ensure that people have the confidence to come forward when they are the victims of domestic violence.
We are working across government to close the justice gap in Britain - the gap between the amount of crime which takes place, and the amount of crime the criminal justice system actually deals with. Until we close that gap, people's confidence in the justice system and people's own sense of security will remain a serious challenge.
Domestic violence plays its own part in the justice gap. The justice gap in domestic violence is, depressingly, large-scale. There are an estimated 600,000 incidents of domestic violence each year. But at the same time, it's estimated that there are only 7,000 criminal prosecutions.
Other estimates suggest that 95 per cent of victims suffer for more than 6 months before seeking help and around half suffer for more than 5 years.
Women on average are attacked 35 times before they seek help against the perpetrators of domestic violence. And two women are killed every week in domestic violence incidents.
And yet only 19,000 victims of domestic violence are seeking non-molestation orders or occupation orders through the civil courts.
I know these figures are all familiar to you. But they do show graphically one thing. That the justice gap over domestic violence is too wide - unacceptably wide in the decent society we all want to see.
So what are we as a government doing?
We are taking a number of steps across government, but clearly foremost among them is the bill we currently have before Parliament which I believe will be, when enacted, a major step forward in tackling domestic violence.
The measures are clear, and straightforward:
making breaches of non-molestation orders a criminal offence
extending the eligibility of non-molestation and occupation orders
making common assault an arrestable offence
enabling courts when sentencing to impose restraining orders for any offence
enabling courts to impose restraining orders on acquittal for any offence if they consider it necessary to protect victims
In addition, across government we are taking a range of other measures, including:
rolling out special measures in courts for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses, including those in domestic violence cases
referring sentencing in domestic violence cases to the sentencing advisory panel
referring to the panel sentencing of manslaughter by reason of provocation, particularly in domestic settings
working with the Home Office to develop a register of civil orders so that courts will know about previous non-molestation and occupation orders
The net effect of these measures will be to reduce domestic violence - because police officers on the ground will have the powers they need to arrest the perpetrators of domestic violence, while the victims of domestic violence will know that the system will provide them with the protection they need.
We are also taking a number of steps to increase the support victims of domestic violence so clearly need, including closer working and information sharing between the justice agencies, and improving the relationships between the family and criminal jurisdictions.
Harriet Harman, the Solicitor General, who will be speaking to you later today, and Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the president of the family division, are now working together with others on this last point, bringing together the key players to assess the effectiveness of the present legal framework, structures and procedures.
For the future, we have a range of further measures:
we will look further at the development of specialist courts, making use of the research on this issue we are publishing today
looking at integrated courts, on the lines of successful American models which see a single judge hearing both the civil and the criminal aspects of a case
On children, making sure that the courts have all the relevant information they need before making decisions about contact and residence
This means that from January next year we will implement the new definition of harm contained in the 2002 Adoption and Children Act, so that courts will have to consider the harm a child suffers, or may suffer, from witnessing violence to another person
And from the same point by means of new forms which specifically identity domestic violence issues we will make sure that allegations about domestic violence can be raised right at the start of court proceedings and that courts will be able to make findings of fact about whether such allegations should have an effect on contact and residence decisions
I believe that taken together these measures will help make it clear to victims of domestic violence that the courts can help them and protect them. And make it clear as well to the perpetrators of domestic violence that their actions are utterly unacceptable.
So what I want to see in this country is a position where:
victims are well informed about their rights and have access to the protection they need
perpetrators are aware of the consequences of their actions, both for themselves and their victims
victims engage with the support systems earlier, including the courts
victims have the trust and confidence that the state can protect them quickly and effectively
I know this is big challenge. I am acutely aware that we are not there yet. But I know too that we must strive to get there. Domestic violence is a vile scar on our society. We must do all we can to combat it.
Doing so will be a tough job - for all you here; for the government, the police and all the agencies involved; but mostly for the victims of violence. They rightly look to us all for answers. We must be able to give them and their children.
That will need courage, determination and commitment. I am confident that, working together, we can achieve it.