In England and Wales, there are no specific offences of domestic abuse.

This has to change.

Many domestic abusers are currently convicted of general offences such as ‘common assault’ or for ‘actual bodily harm’ (ABH). This means that many abusers are eligible for the government’s early release scheme

This is putting domestic abuse survivors’ safety at risk.

We need a law that ensures that domestic abusers’ convictions reflect the true nature and context of their crimes.

They should not be able to hide behind general convictions anymore.

The current legal loophole lets down survivors

Elizabeth Hudson’s ex-husband who was jailed in 2023 after he assaulted her and held a knife to her throat.

He was convicted of the offence of ABH (assault occasioning actual bodily harm), which does not disqualify him from early release.

The Ministry of Justice wrote to Elizabeth to say that he could be released early – possibly as soon as Christmas 2024.

Survivors like Elizabeth deserve better.

The solution: creating a new set of domestic abuse offences

Instead of being convicted of ABH (or any other offence that doesn’t reference the specific nature of the crime), the Domestic Abuse (Aggravated Offences) Bill will propose that a domestic abuser should be convicted of domestically aggravated ABH. This is much the same as how we treat racially and religiously aggravated offences in England and Wales.

With this new clarity, domestic abusers could be properly excluded from early release schemes and the safety of survivors of domestic abuse could be better protected.

Lib Dem MP Josh Babarinde commissioned a research paper from The House of Commons library to explore whether a such a solution could be applied to domestic abuse crimes.

That paper, published in November 2024, concluded that “in order for that context [of domestically abusive behaviour] to affect the operation of early release, a new category of domestic abuse aggravated offences would need to be created and added to the list of offences excluded from early release.”

Women’s Aid backs the campaign

"We support Josh Babarinde MP’s initiative to introduce new certain domestic abuse aggravated offences in his proposed Private Members Bill. This proposal would help build more protection against perpetrators of domestic abuse being released under the early release scheme for prisoners.

We have welcomed Labour’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade, and in support of Josh Babarinde MP’s proposal, we urge the government to consider these amendments and keep their pledge in addressing this national emergency."