Researchers produce study for Scottish Sentencing Council
Domestic abuse survivors want courts to hand down sentences that reflect the impact the abuse has had on their lives, according to new research.
The Scottish Sentencing Council commissioned Professor Nancy Lombard and PhD researcher Erin Rennie to examine the attitudes of survivors of domestic abuse towards the sentencing of offenders, for a report published today.
The study collates the views of 24 women who share their experiences of how sentencing affects survivors.
All of the women interviewed stressed that their priorities for sentencing were immediate and continued safety for themselves, their families, and potential future partners and validation of their experiences.
The report concludes: "For women, successful sentencing provided a validation of their experiences and the public acknowledgement of its impact upon their own lives, those of their children and wider family and friends.
"For women who felt their experiences, and their abusers' crimes, were minimised, they described how the sentencing of their perpetrator invalidated the enormous impact the domestic abuse had upon their life and further compounded their trauma."
The Scottish Sentencing Council is an advisory body that produces sentencing guidelines for use in the High Court of Justiciary, sheriff courts and justice of the peace courts.
The report's findings will contribute to the Council's work on developing guidelines around domestic abuse sentencing in Scotland.
The Chair of the Scottish Sentencing Council, Lady Dorrian, said: “I would like to express my gratitude to the participants for telling their stories and to the researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University for their sensitivity in bringing these stories to light.”