Courts: Domestic Abuse

(asked on 4th September 2017) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that changed names or the addresses of victims of domestic violence or abuse are not provided in court-related documents provided to the perpetrator of that violence or abuse.


Answered by
Phillip Lee Portrait
Phillip Lee
This question was answered on 14th September 2017

Courts regularly handle extremely sensitive cases and have a range of measures in place to ensure the safety and security of victims including victims of domestic abuse. For some civil proceedings, individuals may request that their address details are not disclosed and this is something that the judge will consider on a case by case basis.

In family proceedings the courts have clear guidance on the processes operational staff should follow to make sure that confidentiality is maintained when parties addresses are required; for example, when the court needs to carry out safeguarding checks.

In criminal cases there is no requirement either for a witness’ address to be provided in their written statement, or for the witness to give their current name if that is different to the name by which they were known by at the time of the offence. There are additional measures that prosecutors can apply for such as witness anonymity orders under section 86 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 that allows the content of a witness’ statement to be redacted in such a way as to prevent disclosure of the witness’ identity, as permitted by section 87(4) of that Act.

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