A law setting a “gold standard” for domestic abuse legislation by incorporating both emotional and physical violence into the same offence is expected to be passed by the Scottish parliament.



The domestic abuse bill, which has cross-party backing, creates a specific offence of “abusive behaviour in relation to a partner or ex-partner”. This will cover not only physical abuse but other forms of psychological abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour that cannot easily be prosecuted using the existing criminal law. It is expected to be passed on Thursday.

Welcoming the “fundamentally innovative” legislation, Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said: “Women have been telling us for years that it is emotional abuse that is most harmful. One of the unique things about this bill is that it privileges the experiences of women and children. That’s why Scotland’s approach to domestic abuse is so radical.”

The new law allows the police and courts to pursue someone on a “course of conduct” offence – that is a single offence where physical, psychological and coercive behaviour can be prosecuted at once. This reflects a growing understanding that domestic abuse is often a course of behaviour that extends over a period of time and includes not only physical violence.

The offence also includes a “reasonable person test”. For example, would a reasonable person consider that limiting a woman’s access to her bank account or prescribing her meal times or moving her car while she was asleep – all cases that Scottish Women’s Aid have encountered – amounted to controlling behaviour?

Holyrood’s justice secretary, Michael Matheson, also announced £165,000 of dedicated training funding for Scottish Women’s Aid.

He said: “The voices of women and children who have experienced domestic abuse are at the heart of this bill and that is why it is so important for these provisions to operate effectively. One of the critical things is that those in contact with women who could benefit from its provisions understand exactly what psychological abuse and coercive control is.” This builds on additional funding announced over the festive period to train 140,000 police officers in the new legislation.

Since the introduction of an offence of coercive control in England in 2015, concerns have been raised that it is not being used enough and has created an unhelpful hierarchy of harms, in part due to a lack of specialist training for police officers.



Prof Evan Stark, the former forensic social worker who first developed the concept of coercive control and heavily influenced the Westminster legislation, described the Scottish bill as “a new gold standard”.

Responding to criticism that the new offence was too broad, and that evidence of psychological abuse was harder to gather, Stark said: “There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that creating this broad offence will lead to reduced reporting or policing of simple assaults. When the new definition of abuse was announced in England, reports skyrocketed. But the critics are right about one thing. What matters now is what happens when the first calls come in under the new law. How will the police and the courts respond to that first caller who insists ‘violence wasn’t the worst part’. Will she be told: ‘Talk about the violence’, or what we hope she’ll hear: ‘Yes, I know what you mean.’”