UK: Bullying husbands could face court for 'emotional abuse'

Submitted by anthony on Mon, 2011-12-12 22:12

Story here. Excerpt:

'Men accused of ‘bullying or abusing’ their wives could face criminal charges under new domestic violence laws.

It could mean prosecution for husbands who treat their wives in a controlling way but do not assault them physically.

The change is being proposed by Liberal Democrat ministers as part of a review of domestic violence to be published this week.
...
Critics of domestic violence laws point to the lack of an agreed legal definition or specific criminal offence for attacks in the home.

The guidelines could cover anyone exercising ‘coercive control’ over their partner.

This would include demonstrating a pattern of threatening behaviour or emotional abuse.

It could also cover ‘economic control’ and the manipulation of children.

For the first time, the law could make clear that under-18s can be victims of domestic abuse.
...
The new definition would also cover women who bully their male partners.

Around 5 per cent of men report having been the victims of domestic abuse.

Around one in four women is thought to be a victim of domestic violence. But figures suggest that only one in 15 cases that reach the criminal justice system leads to a conviction.'

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Comments

... that it even mentions that the new proposed law would include women as also being subject to it. But really, does anyone believe that a man who brings a charge of DV against a woman under such terms would even get a hearing? This is another attempt to expand the definition of 'domestic violence' to include any kind of behavior wherein a man attempts to assert himself in any way. "Honey, I disagree that we should spend 5000 euro on a vacation that we really can't afford," will now be the basis for an abuse charge based on him attempting to 'coercively control her financially'. And what was the coercion? Anything. Her stated perceived opinion of the way he said what he did, or whether he was standing up or not at the time, or whether he was looking her in the eye-- whatever. One step at a time, the very meaning of 'violence' gets reduced so that it means anything a judge or jury wants it to mean. Soon it will be this way for damn near anything.

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Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2011-12-13 03:50