One in 10 females aged 16-19 suffer domestic abuse, ONS report finds

Around one in 10 females aged 16 to 19 were victims of domestic abuse last year, a survey has suggested.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report on domestic abuse showed that 10.5% of 16 to 19-year-old females reported instances of abuse in the 12-month period to March 2017, compared with 6.9% of males.

The figures remained high for women aged 20 to 24, with 9.6% reporting abuse against 5.5% of men.

Police recorded 1.1 million domestic abuse-related incidents last year, against an estimated 1.9 million people aged 16 to 59 who experienced some form of domestic abuse.

Of these, 1.2 million (63%) were thought to be female with 713,000 (37%) male.

Females also accounted for 70% of the 454 domestic homicides recorded last year.

The report defines domestic abuse as “any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality”.

Reports can encompass emotional and financial abuse as well as sexual abuse and violence.

Many victims do not see justice, and there were just 46 arrests per 100 domestic abuse-related crimes recorded by 39 police forces last year, the report said.

Police made 93,590 prosecutions for domestic abuse in the year ending March 2017, of which 76% – around 71,000 – secured a conviction.

The report comprises figures taken from the police, the Government and victim support groups, and large-scale surveys such as the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales, which invites around 50,000 households to give data each year.

Durham, Cleveland, Gwent, South Wales and London were among the police areas which reported the most domestic abuse incidents and crimes per 1,000 people last year.

The fewest combined incidents and crimes were recorded in Cheshire, Dyfed-Powys, Surrey, North Yorkshire and Thames Valley.

National Police Chiefs’ council lead for domestic abuse, Louisa Rolfe said: “Today’s figures show that we are improving the way that police, prosecutors and wider society understand and deal with cases of domestic abuse. More people are coming forward to report this complex and often hidden crime type and as a result we have seen higher levels of prosecutions and arrests overall.

“However, we know that many victims still do not report domestic abuse to us so we are working to give people confidence that police will always act to safeguard victims as a priority, such as through issuing protection orders or working directly with victims’ charities. No one should live in fear of domestic abuse and every victim should be safer for having contacted the police.”

Police forces were constantly reviewing the way they handle cases to ensure victims are put at the heart of domestic abuse investigations, Ms Rolfe added.

But Katie Ghose, chief executive of domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid, said ONS data cannot currently offer the “full picture”.

She said: “Domestic abuse by its very nature, hidden behind closed doors, is hard to capture in statistics alone.

“Survivors often do not involve official bodies as it takes great courage to report abuse to the police; some women will never speak out because they don’t know if they will be believed, are not given the space to make the call or fear the repercussions if they do report the perpetrator to the police.”

Ms Ghose said the charity was keen to work with the police and the ONS to ensure more women receive justice for instances of domestic abuse.

She added: “We need to make sure cases do not solely rely on the victim’s testimony to see a case through to prosecution, just as they would for other crimes such as fraud, burglary or traffic offences, and that the criminal justice system works to improve their data collection so that we can understand the huge disparity between survivors reporting domestic abuse to the police and perpetrators being held accountable for the harm they are causing.”

A Government spokeswoman said: “Domestic violence and abuse is a devastating crime that shatters the lives of victims and families.

“This Government is determined to ensure anyone facing the threat of domestic abuse has somewhere to turn to.”

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