Individuals who kill their partner or ex-partner in the home may become subject to a higher baseline starting point for sentencing, under new plans announced on 29 June by the Ministry of Justice.
The proposal responds to a campaign by the families of women who were killed in the home and their experience of disparities in the sentencing of their loved ones’ killers, as compared to the sentencing of those who kill outside the home with a weapon.
Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) deeply sympathises with the families who have brought this campaign. However, the government’s plan risks very serious, unintended consequences for victims of domestic abuse who kill their abuser in the home, who are likely to face even harsher punishment as a result. It will also create new disparities in sentencing between different types of femicide, excluding, for example, killings by men known to a victim but not in a relationship with them.
The announcement states that victims who kill their abuser will be exempt from the higher sentencing starting point. However, domestic abuse is still not understood or properly recognised in criminal proceedings. This results in many such women being convicted of murder, in circumstances where they have killed their abuser in an attempt to survive themselves. These women are likely to be doubly punished as a result of this change.
CWJ is supporting around 30 women currently in prison, who have been convicted of murder after killing their abuser. Several of these cases involve women who killed their abuser with a single stab wound. Like the women profiled in our Women Who Kill research and Fightback film, these women’s experiences of abuse were not properly considered in their trials, with the result that they received convictions for murder and life sentences, with lengthy periods in prison. We are very concerned that the government’s new proposals will lead to even harsher punishments for such victims in the future.
Harriet Wistrich, CEO of Centre for Women’s Justice, said:
“This announcement has not been fully thought through and will have serious unintended consequences which will create more problems than it solves. Clare Wade KC carefully addressed this issue in her 2023 review of sentencing in domestic homicide cases, and reached a very different conclusion. It should be included in the comprehensive examination of murder sentencing currently underway by the Law Commission, which will involve a public consultation. This announcement pre-empts that complex and careful process, and appears to sidestep the public scrutiny that this proposal deserves.”
ENDS