The Sentencing Council guidance covers a range of crimes, including assault, sexual offences, harassment and criminal damage, as there is no specific offence of domestic abuse.
The fresh guidance emphasises the seriousness of this kind of offending to judges and magistrates, and details a raft of aggravating factors that should now be taken into account when sentencing. Among these is the impact on children, especially in terms of long-term trauma.
Other factors courts should take into account include the victim's vulnerability and whether contact with a child was used to instigate an offence.
The Sentencing Council said that, overall, it is likely there will be an increase in sentence severity as a result of the introduction of the guidance.
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