Nicole Jacobs is calling for the police to overhaul its current guidance for officers that says children are a victim “when they are directly targeted,” or “if they are accidentally assaulted in an incident involving others”.
However, this does not take into account when children witness domestic abuse, which is contrary to current law, she warns.
According to the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, children should be treated as victims in domestic abuse cases “whether they have seen, heard, or experienced the effects of domestic abuse”, said Jacobs in her report into the criminal justice response to domestic abuse.
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