Domestic violence and abuse is a dreadful crime and has no place in our society. Tackling it has been one of this Government\u2019s top priorities. We are determined to support victims in rebuilding their lives and reporting these crimes, and to make sure perpetrators are brought to justice. We have piloted and rolled out Clare's Law and domestic violence protection orders; extended the definition of domestic abuse to cover controlling behaviour and teenage relationships; run two successful campaigns to challenge perceptions of abuse; and placed Domestic Homicide Reviews on a statutory footing to make sure lessons are learned from individual tragedies. More recently we have added an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill at Commons Committee stage to create a new offence of domestic abuse.<\/p>
<\/p>
Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice on the Court Proceedings Database does not include the circumstances behind each case beyond the description provided in the statute. It is not possible separately to identify from this centrally held information how many people imprisoned for contempt of court have also been victims of a crime. This detailed information may be held on court records but is not reported centrally to the Ministry of Justice. As such, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1528", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Mike Penning"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hemel Hempstead"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mike Penning"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-02-03", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-02-03T17:50:01.62Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-01-27", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Domestic Abuse: Sentencing"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims of domestic violence have been imprisoned for contempt of court in the last five years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4253", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Seema Malhotra"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Feltham and Heston"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Seema Malhotra"} ], "uin" : "222123"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/99915", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/99915/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Sentencing guidelines are produced independently of Government, by the Sentencing Council. The guidelines are available on the Sentencing Council website. Any decision to review the overarching sentencing guideline on domestic violence is a matter for the Sentencing Council.<\/p>
<\/strong><\/p> The overarching sentencing guideline on domestic violence makes clear that because an offence has been committed in a domestic context there are likely to be aggravating factors present which make it more serious. The guideline sets out in some detail certain aggravating, and mitigating factors, which are of particular relevance to offences committed in a domestic context. All courts must take this guideline into account, and they must also follow sentencing guidelines for individual offences. This makes sure that the courts have a consistent approach to the task of determining the appropriate sentence in each case.<\/p>"}
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