Working to end domestic violence
Our researchers are working to eliminate domestic violence and abuse.
They are helping us understand the motivations and conditions which allow this violence to happen.
They have directly shaped national policy - working with councils, government and the police to help society protect victims and prevent abuse.
No hiding a criminal history
With the total number of domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes on the rise, bringing serial abusers to light is crucial to protect women and children at risk of harm.
Dr Kat Hadjimatheou’s research directly shaped the national policy for ‘Clare’s Law’ - the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) – which gives victims and survivors access to reliable information police hold about their partner’s true history of abuse.
Domestic abusers coerce and control their victims by lying about their past behaviour and blaming current and ex-partners for their own violence and abuse. As a relationship develops, the abuser starts to tell a story about who is to blame for any conflict or violence. This then hardens into a line that victims are forced to accept as fact.
This twisted narrative is imposed through various tactics such as gaslighting – where psychological manipulation is used to confuse and distort someone’s reality so they are no longer confident in their own judgements of what is real or true.
Ex-partners who have alleged abuse are portrayed as liars and “crazy”. Abuse is blamed on PTSD, a troubled past, and of course the victim’s “provocation”.
In this way, abusers distort the truth to expand control over their victim’s lives and minds. Victims often are not aware of the true danger their partner poses.
Most domestic abusers have no convictions. But many have significant police records, created when victims or neighbours have called 999. These records often reveal a pattern of abuse over multiple victims and many years.
Dr Hadjimatheou’s research has shown that police sharing information from these records can empower victims and survivors of domestic abuse to make more informed decisions about their safety and their relationship. By revealing patterns of abuse over years, it can expose serial abusers and shift the blame back where it belongs.
Her work shows that enabling police to disclose all records they have about a person, including reports and incidents that do not result in a conviction, means abusers can no longer hide behind a “clean” criminal record.
credit: Image courtesy of BBC website
credit: Image courtesy of BBC website
Dr Kat Hadjimatheou
Dr Kat Hadjimatheou
“Domestic abuse is a crime that is perpetrated not only through violence and threats, but also through tactics of control. Lies, blame-shifting, and strategic misrepresentation of the past are core tactics of coercive control. That is why it is important that police can share information that exposes serial abusers for what they are. To me, concerns about the privacy of people with criminal records are misplaced, because disclosures are only made to those at direct risk of abuse.”
Dr Kat Hadjimatheou
Her work compares disclosure schemes and identifies which ones are doing better at protecting victims. Some countries only disclose proven convictions, citing concerns about privacy. But these risks give victims a false sense of security.
Police records must be disclosable for Clare’s Law to be genuinely protective of victims.
Dr Hadjimatheou has established close collaborative relationships with individual police forces and local authorities, as well as central government, and national and international domestic abuse organisations.
Have you applied for or received a Clare’s Law disclosure? If so, please consider completing this anonymous survey to help gather evidence on how the scheme is working.
Edited clip from Louder Than Words Podcast.
A place of refuge
Finding a place of safety is the vital first step to ending domestic abuse.
Alumnus Dr June Freeman received an MBE in 2021 for services to the women’s refuge movement.
She was one of the founders of the Colchester Women’s refuge which opened its doors in 1977 and has since helped thousands of abused women receive support and access the resources they need to rebuild their lives.
Speaking about what made her join the refuge movement, Dr Freeman recalls: “In the 1970s domestic violence was not a public issue and even when incidents were reported to the police their general response was ‘It’s only a domestic’ and commonly dismissed them as a private matter. As second wave feminism got underway, however, women across the country became increasingly aware of, and horrified by, the incidence of domestic violence and they started to insist that it become part of the government’s social agenda.”
Dr Freeman is especially proud of how the founders of refuges also changed the way abused women were treated. She explained: “The women who came to refuges had often been bullied and bruised for a long time and refuge workers felt it was inappropriate to dictate to these women what action they should take. Instead, they sought to find out what the women themselves felt they needed to help them establish independent lives. At the time this respectful approach was distinctively new.”
Edited clip from Louder Than Words Podcast
Breaking the circle
of violence
The circle of violence can only end with an effective partnership response. Each agency in the chain must understand their responsibilities and what to do if the chain breaks.
For the first time, serving police officers worked with sociologists at Essex and City University to co-author a book to improve the policing of domestic abuse.
Emeritus Professor Jackie Turton and Dr Ruth Weir, who completed her PhD at Essex, collaborated with domestic abuse specialists from Thames Valley and Bedfordshire police forces to produce a comprehensive guide explaining the dynamics of how domestic abuse occurs, how best to respond to and investigate it, and, in the longer term, how to prevent it.
Professor Turton said: “There are many challenges concerning domestic abuse so it is important to find ‘champions’ who can initiate pathways to change. We found our champions in Katy Barrow-Grint and Jacqueline Sebire, serving police officers and our co-authors.”
The insights into the dynamics of how domestic abuse occurs and how to respond and investigate will help in the long-term prevention.
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Find out about our research into Crime, Justice and Public Policy
Our key research themes focus on health and healthcare, environmental issues, criminology, ageing and pensions, digital criminology and organised crime.
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