Domestic Abuse Law in Scotland

The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 which came into force in April 2019 created a new criminal offence of Domestic Abuse, covering a range of psychological, sexual, financial and physical abusive behaviours perpetrated against a partner or ex-partner. The Act also sought for greater recognition that children experience domestic abuse with their parent. Prior to this Act the law only recognised the physical aspects of abuse as a criminal offence.

The Act is intended to improve how the Scottish justice system responds to domestic abuse.

In 2020-21 domestic abuse incidents resulted in 33,425 charges reported by the Crown Office (an increase of 9% on the previous year); 92% of these were prosecuted. Currently there is a lot of pressure on the courts, with a backlog of more than 7,000 domestic abuse cases in the Scotlandâs court systems with some claimants waiting up to three years for a trial.

Currently under the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill there are plans to create a separate sexual offences court. This will ease the current pressure on the Sheriff court and some domestic abuse cases would be heard here.

The aim of this book is to provide criminal practitioners and all those working on domestic abuse cases with clear practical guidance on how to work within the new legislative framework. It is the only book on the market providing guidance on the 2018 Act. This text provides context and background to the new legislation and sets out chapters to follow the structure of the Act as it is laid out. It is written by expert practitioners with extensive experience of working within the criminal justice system.

As well as the 2018 Act the book also covers relevant case law and key legislation including:
- Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016, s 2 (disclosure of intimate images)
- Communication Act 2003, s 127 (sending offensive or indecent material)
- Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, ss 38 and 39 (abusive and threatening behaviour, stalking)
- Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 s 52 (vandalism)
- Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009

The text would appear in our Scottish Law Service and the Criminal Law Module of the Scots Law Online Service.