Two Worlds Apart: A Comparative Analysis of the Effectiveness of Domestic Abuse Law and Policy in England and Wales and the Russian Federation
| Author | Kayliegh Richardson,Ana Speed |
| Published date | 01 October 2019 |
| Date | 01 October 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0022018319858478 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The Journal of Criminal Law
2019, Vol. 83(5) 320–351
Two Worlds Apart:
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018319858478
Effectiveness of Domestic Abuse
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Law and Policy in England and
Wales and the Russian Federation
Kayliegh Richardson
Northumbria University, UK
Ana Speed
Northumbria University, UK
Abstract
In 2015, s 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 introduced the new criminal offence of ‘controlling
or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship’. This is just one of many steps the
UK government have taken in recent years to acknowledge the different forms of domestic
abuse and power imbalances that can be present in intimate relationships. In contrast, in
February 2017, the Russian government passed an amendment to the Russian Criminal Code
to decriminalise some forms of assault, a step which many human rights activists have opposed.
This article will compare the seemingly dichotomous approaches to domestic abuse adopted
by England and Wales and Russia and will examine the effectiveness of both approaches in
deterring domestic violence, providing adequate support for victims and meeting state obli-
gations under international law. There has been extensive commentary on the approach to
domestic abuse in England, the USA and Australia. In comparison, consideration of the
approach in the Russian Federation is limited. This is in part due to the approach taken in Russia
to dealing with domestic abuse as a private issue and the associated lack of available data. This
article seeks to go behind closed doors to explore the Russian approach to tackling domestic
abuse in a way that it has not previously been considered.
Keywords
Domestic abuse, comparative law, control and coercion, criminalisation
Corresponding author:
Kayliegh Richardson, Northumbria Law School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK.
E-mail: kayliegh2.richardson@northumbria.ac.uk
Richardson and Speed
321
Introduction
Domestic abuse is a large-scale problem in England and Wales, with recent statistics indicating that in
the year ending March 2018, 1.23 million women and 695,000 men had experienced domestic abuse.1
These statistics are more concerning because it is generally accepted that incidents of domestic abuse are
under-reported.2 The statistics also only consider domestic abuse experienced by adults aged 16–59
years, ignoring domestic abuse experienced in younger teenage relationships or between individuals
aged 60 and above. Bows found that 43 per cent of homicides of older people recorded between 2010 and
2015 were in fact domestic homicides.3 The real figures for domestic abuse experienced in England and
Wales are therefore likely to be much higher than those highlighted by the Office for National Statistics.
The key reasons suggested by academics and practitioners for this underreporting is considered later in
this article.
In England and Wales, domestic abuse is understood to be a gendered offence in that it is both a cause
and a consequence of gender inequality. This is because physical and emotional abuse, domestic
servitude, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual violence and harassment are disproportio-
nately perpetrated against women and girls.4 Women are twice as likely as men to experience domestic
abuse and men are more likely to be perpetrators.5 On average, two women are killed each week by their
current or former partner in England and Wales.6 The Home Office Statutory Guidance Framework on
Controlling or Coercive behaviour states that domestic abuse is ‘primarily a form of violence against
women and girls and is underpinned by wider societal inequality’.7 Similarly, the Equality and Human
Rights Commission notes that:
The continuum of violence against women, in its many forms, reflects the wider structural gender inequalities
that make it one of the most pervasive human rights issues in the UK: it impacts on women’s health and
independence, reduces their ability to work and creates a cycle of economic dependence. Women’s inequality
limits their ability to escape from abusive relationships; it can make it more difficult for them to enforce their
rights.8
Domestic abuse is not, however, necessarily synonymous with gender-based violence in that the
latter can take place in the public sphere and can be perpetrated by those outside domestic
1. Office for National Statistics, ‘Domestic Abuse in England and Wales: Year Ending March 2018’ (Office for National
Statistics, 22 November 2018)
2. HM Government, ‘Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse’ (Government Consultation, 8 March 2018) 8
Domestic Abuse Report 2017’ (2017) 23
3. H Bows, ‘Domestic Homicide of Older People (2010–15): A Comparative Analysis of Intimate-Partner Homicide and Parricide
Cases in the UK’ (2018) The British Journal of Social Work (BJSW) 1–20.
4. The European Institute for Gender Inequality, ‘Strategic Framework on Violence against Women 2015–2018’ (Publications
Office of the European Union, Luxembourg 2015)
5. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, ‘Response of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to the Consultation:
Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse’ (2018). The response can be accessed:
2019.
6. Office for National Statistics, ‘Crime Statistics, Focus on Violent Crime and Sexual Offences, Year ending March 2016,
Chapter 2: Homicide’ (2016).
7. Home Office ‘Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in an Intimate or Family Relationship: Statutory Guidance Framework’
(2015) 7
8. See The Equality and Human Rights Commission (n 5).
322
The Journal of Criminal Law 83(5)
relationships.9 This understanding of domestic abuse informs and is reflected in the policy approach
to domestic abuse in England and Wales which is state-driven, multi-agency and, increasingly,
criminal justice focused.
The discourse surrounding domestic abuse in Russia contrasts starkly to the position in England and
Wales. Rather than being viewed as an expression of gender inequality and a human rights infringement,
the prevention of which is primarily the Government’s responsibility to address, domestic abuse in
Russia is viewed as a private family matter which necessitates minimal state, legal or police interven-
tion.10 Campaigns aimed at raising awareness of tackling domestic violence have met with some
success,11 but perceptions of domestic violence in Russia are reported as being dominated by a ‘renais-
sance of traditional values’ which reinforce archaic gender norms around a ‘woman’s place’ in the
family unit.12 In a 2015 review on the position in Russia, the Committee on the Elimination of Dis-
crimination against Women noted that they were concerned about the:
persistence of patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes concerning the roles and responsibilities of women and
men in the family and in society, which consider women primarily to be mothers and caregivers, discriminate
against women and perpetuate their subordination within the family and society . . . and perpetuate their
unequal status in family relations.13
The Committee also reported that such stereotypes are one of the root causes of violence against
women and therefore it is concerning that the Russian government has not taken any steps to modify or
eliminate discriminatory stereotypes and negative traditional attitudes. The Committee recommended
that Russia put in place a strategy aimed at eliminating patriarchal attitudes concerning the roles and
responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society.14
The scale of domestic abuse in Russia is largely unknown. This is principally because, unlike the UK
government, Russia has not sought to implement a statutory definition of ‘domestic abuse’, which
creates difficulty in clarifying the parameters of behaviour that will fall within its remit. In addition,
because domestic abuse is not seen as a government concern, let alone a priority, the Russian govern-
ment does not collect centralised statistics on domestic abuse. In any event, the lack of legal recognition
of domestic abuse as a criminal matter makes collecting data in Russia a futile task. Russia is one of only
three countries in Europe and Central Asia which does not recognise domestic violence as a discrete
offence.15 There is currently no legal recognition of coercive and controlling behaviour, economic
9. Law Commission ‘Reform of Offences against the Person: A Scoping Consultation Paper’ CP 217 (2014), para 150
www.lawcom.gov.uk/app/uploads/2015/06/cp217_offences_against_the_person.pdf> accessed 05 January 2019.
10. JE Johnson, ‘Privatizing Pain: The Problem of Woman Battery in Russia’ (2001) 13(2) National Women’s Studies Association
Journal (NWSA Journal) 153–68.
11. The Russian Orthodox Church, for example, has promoted a zero-tolerance attitude towards familial violence through working
in conjunction with domestic abuse organisations to develop an effective response to incidents of violence, including
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