Victims of domestic violence

The government is currently reviewing its cross-departmental definition of domestic violence. The current definition of domestic violence used by the government is: "any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse [psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional] between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality." While this is not a statutory definition, it is used by government departments such as the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the UK Border Agency to assist staff in identifying domestic violence cases, facilitating access to services for victims and in informing policy development.

Among other things, the government is reviewing whether or not the definition of domestic violence should be amended so as to be applicable to persons under 18 years of age. At this time, the definition explicitly applies only to adults, i.e. those who have reached 18 years. As a result, persons experiencing abuse at the hands of an "intimate partner" who are less than 18 years of age would not be considered victims of domestic violence and, therefore, ineligible to many of the support services specially designed for victims. Coram Children’s Legal Centre is of the view that the definition should be extended to include all persons under 18 years.

Affected teenagers