For too long, our society has responded to domestic abuse by putting responsibility on survivors of domestic abuse to leave, seek help, and reach out. Services for all survivors are vital, but if we are to end domestic abuse, we also need to respond to the person causing the harm – the perpetrator. This is especially crucial as research has shown that 1 in 4 perpetrators are repeat offenders, and some have as many as six different victims, so even if we are able to support a current victim to safety, the perpetrator will just find another.

Respect is the UK domestic abuse charity providing the national voice on perpetrators, male victims and young people. We lead the development of safe, effective and accountable responses. Survivors are at the heart of such responses.

From our work, we know that perpetrators are a diverse cohort and that a wide spectrum of specialist interventions is needed, including early responses, behaviour change programmes, high harm risk management interventions and, of course, a robust criminal justice system. There is also a need for the full range of public services to play their part in holding perpetrators to account. They need to stop asking ‘why doesn’t she just leave?’ and start asking ‘why doesn’t he stop?’.

However, the provision of responses in the UK is patchy. This is why Respect, alongside over 90 organisations and experts, is calling on the Government to publish a perpetrator strategy to ensure sustainable funding pathways for this work.

The impact of our work

Claire*, a survivor associated with the Drive intervention, describes the support she received through her IDVA and the Drive intervention (who was supporting her ex-partner to change his behaviour) in those words:   

“The intervention myself and my family have received from the project has enabled us to move forward in our lives. It would have been a very different outcome if not for this project.”

*Not her real name

The Istanbul Convention pushes for perpetrator interventions

Article 16 of the Istanbul Convention recognises the importance of perpetrator interventions in the response to domestic abuse, which is precisely what we are striving for in the UK.

If the UK ratified the Istanbul Convention, it would have to ensure such interventions, including the provision of behaviour change programmes.
Ratification would be a vital step forward, giving legal backing to our quest for sustainable funding and a strategy from the Government that ensures every single survivor can receive the support they need, while every perpetrator is challenged to change and held to account for their abuse.

This is why we are calling on the UK Government to ratify the Istanbul Convention on violence against women without delay.

Take action now:

Sign the petition for the UK to ratify the Istanbul Convention

Support the work of RESPECT.