An end to domestic abuse?

The Jersey Courts will acquire significant new powers to punish to those guilty of domestic abuse under the provisions of the?Domestic Abuse (Jersey) Law 2022, which will come into force later this month.

Under the new law the Courts can now impose a sentence of up to 5 years and a fine on those found guilty of recklessly or intentionally committing domestic abuse, the definition of which now includes physical or sexual abuse, violence or threats, harassment or neglect, or which is coercive or controlling.

The Law stipulates that coercive or controlling behaviour means behaviour that is reasonably likely a) to make B dependent on, or subordinate to A, b) isolate B from friends, family members or other sources of social interaction or support, control, regulate or monitor B’s day-to-day activities, or d) restrict B’s freedom of action.

Moreover, in determining whether the behaviour complained of causes or is reasonably likely to cause harm, the cumulative effect of all the acts/failures to act will be looked at, so that patterns of behaviour may together be determined to amount to abuse.

This greatly increases the range of abusive behaviours that the Court can address, and it can do so in situations not just where the parties involved are married or in a civil partnership, but also where they are in an intimate personal relationship, have agreed to marry or enter into a civil partnership, are or have been the parents of the same child or share/have shared parental responsibility for a child, or where they are relatives as well as in certain other specified circumstances.

Furthermore the Court may, on application to the Attorney General, issue a domestic abuse protection order imposing a broad range of restrictions against an offender to prevent further abuse from occurring.

Will this mean an end to domestic abuse? Time will tell, but the new Law does mean that when abuse occurs the Courts are now far better equipped to effectively address it.

For advice concerning this or any family related matter please contact Le Gallais & Luce’s experienced?Family Law?team, either by telephone on 760710 or by emailing Chris Austin - [email protected] or Matthew Godden - [email protected].