Training in Domestic Abuse a Key Concern for the Judiciary
- Claire Verney
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Recently released details of judicial training places domestic abuse as a central focus amid concerns raised by 2 research studies detailing poor practice with domestic abuse victims in the family and criminal courts.
For the first time the Judiciary have published details of how Judges and Magistrates are trained to handle domestic abuse cases in criminal and family law cases. Alongside the Judicial College Prospectus further information on domestic abuse training was released with the aim of increasing public confidence in the judiciaries role in domestic abuse cases. The programme of work devised by the judiciary and the College's legal experts alongside input from survivors, psychologists, clinicians and academics is based on a trauma-informed approach to support victims.
The publication asserts that the reason for the publication is to provide further information on matters of most interest to the public advising that:
Domestic abuse has been, and remains, a central focus of the training programme, covering physical and sexual abuse, threatening and violent behaviour, coercion and control, economic abuse and psychological and emotional abuse. It is a pervasive theme woven into training for all magistrates and judges in the family and criminal jurisdictions
The Judicial College Prospectus 2026 to 2027 and the Judicial education in domestic abuse 2026 to 2027 overview are both available as PDFs to download here.
Bias in the Family Court
At the same time research has found widespread evidence of bias and victim-blaming that disadvantages women in the family courts. Right to Equalities report Scratching the Surface: Victim-Blaming and Bias in Family Court Judgments, published findings from a detailed analysis of 91 published family law judgments. Key findings include:
66 judgements contained victim-blaming language,
530 instances of victim‑blaming by court professionals, primarily judges, were identified in total
72.5% of all judgments contained at least one instance of judicial victim‑blaming,
The most prevalent form of victim-blaming was discrediting, followed by behavioural blame and trivialisation
The majority of victim-blaming identified was subtle (62.5%), making it difficult to challenge
There was widespread evidence of gender bias, with “mothers’ behaviour scrutinised intensely while the fathers’ conduct was contextualised or minimised”.
As a barrister, I have stood in family courts and watched judges normalise abuse, trivialise trauma and silence survivors. This report gives voice to what victims have been telling us for decades: bias is real, it is embedded in the family justice system, and it is shaping decisions that affect children’s safety, resulting in irreparable harm - Dr Charlotte Proudman, Founder and Director of Right to Equality
You can view Right to Equalities post and a copy of the report here https://righttoequality.org/right-to-equality-launches-new-report-scratching-the-surface-of-victim-blaming-in-family-court/
Domestic Abuse and the Criminal Courts
New research published by the Centre for Womens Justice, “They don’t understand abuse”, recently provided valuable insight from survivors and women’s specialist services about prosecution practice when survivors are accused of offending.
While the true figure may be much higher due to barriers in reporting abuse almost 70% of women incarcerated or under probation supervision in the community in England and Wales are identified as victims of domestic violence. For numerous individuals, this is closely connected to their offending.
The following were identified as leading to inappropriate responses to victim-survivors of domestic abuse who are accused of offending including:
Culture of disbelief
Lack of understanding of domestic abuse and coercive control
Failure to apply the public interest test
Failure to implement a trauma-informed response
Discrimination against Black, Asian, minoritised and migrant women.
Harriet Wistrich, Solicitor and Chief Executive Officer of CWJ, said:
“Victim-survivors have repeatedly put themselves on the line by sharing their painful experiences to persuade those in power to implement the changes that are so clearly needed. We welcome the work that has been begun by the National Police Chiefs Council and Crown Prosecution Service, but achieving success will require system-wide change led from the top of government – including increased investment in women’s specialist services. Anything short of a full-throated endorsement of the recommendations in this report, and those of the Women’s Justice Board, will fail victims.”
Read the full Centre for Womens Justice Press release and access the research here.
About DVACT-PAI
DVACT-PAI are a team of domestic abuse experts, available throughout the UK, who provide assessments, programmes, consultancy and training to local authorities and the family courts. Our experts have decades of experience working directly with domestic abuse perpetrators and victims, as specialist assessors and as expert witnesses in the family courts.
DV-ACT was formed with the aim of using our expertise to help safeguard children from abuse, this is at the heart of everything that we do. To read more about us please visit our post - Who are DV-ACT?
