Clare’s Law, or the national Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme
| Date | 01 February 2015 |
| Published date | 01 February 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018314564732 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Clare’s Law, or the national
Domestic Violence Disclosure
Scheme: the contested legalities
of criminality information sharing
Jamie Grace
Faculty of Development & Society, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
Abstract
Clare’s Law has been a PR success for the police in England and Wales—the police have
engaged directly with the media over the national roll-out of the Domestic Violence Disclosure
Scheme. But the precise operation of the Scheme, at a doctrinal level, is unclear, and warrants
further scrutiny (and, I would argue, reform) before a crisis of confidence in the Scheme is pre-
cipitated by a challenge by way of judicial review. Human rights case law concerning the
procedural rights of (suspected) domestic violence perpetrators is the medium through which
this piece explores the manner in which the Scheme currently operates on the basis of Home
Office guidance and policy.
Keywords
Domestic violence, human rights, criminal records, information law, policing
Introduction
Clare’s Law, known formally as the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme, has been a PR success for
the police in England and Wales—the police have engaged directly with the media over the national roll-
out of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.
1
But the precise operation of the Scheme, at a
Corresponding author:
Faculty of Development & Society, Sheffield Hallam University, Heart of the Campus Building, Collegiate Crescent, Collegiate
Campus, Sheffield S10 2BQ, UK.
E-mail: j.grace@shu.ac.uk
1. See, for example, though, the conflation of a disclosure of information about a risk of domestic violenceposed by a (potential)
perpetratorwith an ascertainable reduction or removalof that (presupposed) risk, in David Cowlishaw,‘Ending the Fear: Clare’s
Law Saves Almost 280 People from Domestic Abuse in Just TWO years’, Mancunian Matters,fromhttp://www.mancu-
nianmatters.co.uk/content/040970505-ending-fear-clares-law-saves-almost-280-people-domestic-abuse-just-two-years (accessed
17 October 2014) and Keiligh Baker, ‘Crime File: Domestic Abuse Scheme Working’ South Wales Argus, available at http://
www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11492624.CRIME_FILE__Domestic_abuse_scheme_working/ (accessed 17 October 2014).
The Journal of Criminal Law
2015, Vol. 79(1) 36–45
ªThe Author(s) 2014
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018314564732
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