Courts: Domestic Abuse

(asked on 9th October 2017) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance prevents the disclosure of the address of a victim of domestic violence to their alleged perpetrator during court proceedings.


Answered by
Dominic Raab Portrait
Dominic Raab
This question was answered on 17th October 2017

Courts regularly handle extremely sensitive cases and have a range of measures in place to maintain the confidentiality of participants’ details including victims of domestic abuse.

In the Criminal Courts, there is no requirement for a victim’s address to be provided in their written statement, therefore these courts do not need guidance to prevent disclosure.

The Family Courts follow guidance laid out in Standard Operating Procedures that requires all files with confidential addresses to be checked by a manager or another officer.

In the civil courts, there is no formal guidance, however where the address of the applicant or respondent is required, victims of domestic abuse are able to apply to have their safe address withheld and provide an alternative address.

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