Clare\'s Law Lecture Notes PDF

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Lecture 1: Clare’s Law (Background & Scheme) Clare’s Law – formally known as the Domestic Violence disclosure scheme Timeline of Events: ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

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April 2007: meet on internet dating site 2 October 2008 – end of relationship following discovery of Appleton’s affairs 7 October 2008 – Clare goes to Pendleton police station, alleging that Appleton threatened to burn the house down, smash the windows, and stab Clare. Also threatened her with iron and made abusive remarks. 8 October 2008 – Clare makes 999 call reporting Appleton banging on her door ¡ By coincidence, Officer A calls at her home to discuss allegations from 7 Oct. Advises Clare to get new locks and provides details of domestic violence agencies. Police try to call 26 times but cannot due to lack of patrols. Officer A arrests Appleton at address on suspicion of criminal damage. Appleton released same day on bail. Appleton bailed with conditions that he does not contact Clare or go in her street. ¡ 9 October 2008 at 9.14am – Police communications obtain note to say Appleton arrested, but response to Clare’s 999 call delayed 4 more times. 9 October 2008 at 12.46pm - Two officers attend Clare's home in response to her 999 call. She is not in and they leave a note. 4 November 2008 – Appleton bailed util 21 Nov. Officer A receives letter from Clare requesting that Appleton be excused of a custodial sentence. 21 November 2008 – Appleton answers bail and bailed again until 6 January with same conditions. 28 December 2008 - - Officer A visited Clare and she said Appleton had not been contact and believed he did not pose a threat. 6 January2009 - Appleton re-bailed until 30 January with conditions amended to allow him into Clare's street. 18 January 2009 - Clare called Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to allege she has been sexually assaulted by Appleton. 19 January 2009 - At 2.43am Appleton contacted GMP and said he understood Clare had been threatening to complain that he had harassed her. It was confirmed to him that she had made a complaint. At 3.29am Appleton is arrested at his home. ¡ At 2.52pm Appleton is bailed due to insufficient evidence at that stage to charge him. He denies the allegation and is bailed until 20 April. GMP request a HomeLink alarm is installed at Clare's home. GMP's Domestic Violence Unit made aware of Clare's sexual assault allegation and a risk assessment carried out. 20 January 2009 - Clare taken to police station to be video interviewed but had to be postponed due to another interview overrunning. 21 January 2009 - DVU forwarded fire risk assessment to fire service in relation to Appleton's threat to burn Clare’s house down four months earlier. 22 January 2009 - Appleton contacted GMP twice and asked if Clare had reported him for breaching his bail by contacting her via computer. He was told no complaint had been received. At 11.40am Clare contacted GMP to report she had received a 'poke' from Appleton via Facebook. At 5.30pm Clare was told there were no free patrols at that time. 23 January 2009 - At 12.39am two officers attend Clare’s home and told by Clare that she had received three automated messages via computer from Appleton. Officers arrested Appleton at his home but after talking to custody sergeant 'de-arrested' him at the scene as the breach of his bail was of a relatively minor nature and was not threatening. ¡ Clare was video interviewed in relation to sexual assault allegation and admitted that she had proactively contacted Appleton after October 8th, 2008 and they had spoken and met on several occasions. She confirms that they had consensual sex in November in 2008 and she had voluntarily gone to his flat on January 17th. 27 January 2009 - Officer A submitted file to Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in relation to original threat allegations and criminal damage. Did not mention in the file the sexual assault allegation. 28 January 2009 - The CPS advised Appleton should be warned under the Harassment and Protection Act in relation to contacting and harassing Clare. 30 January 2009 - Appleton attended Swinton Police station to answer bail. He was issued with a fixed penalty notice for causing criminal damage. He was not issued with a warning under Harassment and Protection Act. 2 February 2009 - Appleton murders Clare. 6 February 2009 - Clare's body found. 12 February 2009 - Appleton's body found hanged in derelict pub half a mile from Clare's home.

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GMP’s failings and Appleton’s History: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) concluded Clare had been let down by "individual and systemic" failures by Greater Manchester Police (GMP). ¡ ¡

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Repeatedly contacted GMP with allegations of criminal damage, harassment, threats to kill, and sexual assault. Panic alarm installed, but Appleton arrested 1 week before death for smashing down Clare’s front door.

Appleton known to search for women on online dating and social networking sites. Clare told father about Appleton’s criminal record for motoring offences. Appleton actually had a history of violence against women. Court heard that Appleton had been jailed for three years in 2002 for harassing another woman and six months a year earlier after breaching a restraining order.

Clare’s Law: The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ¡ Right to ask - a member of the public applies to the police for a disclosure ¡

member of the public can request details of certain elements of the criminal history relating to particular individuals with whom they have formed or are forming a relationship from police organisations (in turn connected to wider public protection networks). The police must consider the matter and choose whether to such supply public protection risk information (if it exists), based on an actuarial judgment with regard to the particular risk of the requesting member of the public coming to harm through domestic violence.

¡ Right to know - the police take the proactive decision to disclose information to a potential victim ¡

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police or other organisations may refer a case or piece of ‘intelligence’ about a (suspected) domestic violence perpetrator to the same kind of decision-making panel for potential disclosure under the DVDS.

Abusers to inform police when they get a new partner Emphasis of the scheme is placed on preventing the escalation or outbreak of sexual and/or physical violence in a relationship, through the multi-agency or inter-agency sharing of public protection risk information Clare’s family said she would not have become involved with Appleton if she had been aware of his record

DVDS Rationale ¡ ¡

enabling ‘a potential victim to make choices about her safety and that of her children’. introduced a ‘recognised and consistent procedure’ for the police to exercise their existing common law powers to ‘disclose information relating to previous convictions or charges to A where there is a pressing need for disclosure of the information concerning B’s history in order to prevent further crime’.

Pilot Scheme (2012-13) 386 applications for disclosure  231 ‘right to ask’ requests  155 ‘right to know’  111 resulted in disclosure

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‘no pressing’ need to disclose No relevant information available to suggest there was a risk of harm Request didn’t meet the scheme’s criteria

¡ Some pilot schemes opted out of active publication of scheme: fear of inadequate resources if high number of applicants. Non-disclosure =/= no risk. Potentially, ‘another important “tool in the box” for professionals’, it should not be considered to be a ‘“catch-all” for domestic abuse protection work’.

Home Office Review 2016 ¡ ¡ ¡

Largely positive approach of police and partner agencies Required better consistency in application Provision of support services required across forces

Lecture 2: Problem’s with Clare’s Law

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A ‘PR success’ (Grace 2015: 36) Politicised and victim-focused (Duggan 2012) Diverts police resources away from frontline case management (FitzGibbon and Walklate 2017) Fails to address systemic cultural problems in police responses to domestic violence (FitzGibbon and Walklate 2017) No perpetrator engagement (Grace 2015) Police are not properly resourced to deal with these issues

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Schemes rules of disclosure Greatly varies from force to force Complexity of the interacting underpinning legal bases:

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E.g., GMP – higher rate of disclosures: ¡ ¡

Part of pilot Enhanced commitment because of Clare’s case

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Lack of statutory codification

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Identification of ‘best practice’:

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Misleading to be referred to as a ‘law’ Online and face-to-face training (West Yorkshire) Oversight and monitoring group (Cleveland) Triage-style officers or coordinators (Wiltshire, Derbyshire, Hertfordshire) Online application portal (Wiltshire)

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Unclear as to when to apply ¡ Too early – not enough info ¡ Too late – firmly under control of partner

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Requires that domestic abuse has been reported ¡ What about controlling behaviour or behaviour that does not involve physical assault? ¡ What if victim doesn’t consider what is happening as domestic violence? ¡ Under-reporting ¡ Relies on accuracy of information on Police National Computer

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Information is lost when crossing boundaries: what of a perpetrator who moves. Offending behaviour may not be known When nothing is reported back to the victim, they may be lulled back into an inaccurate false sense of security

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Responsiblises the victim  May be seen to increase the pressure on women to act against DV  Failure to engage in ‘right to know’ or adopt ‘inappropriate’ response may lead to increased judgment/greater risk

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Focus on victim detracts attention from the perpetrator (Duggan 2012: 31) Issue of choice (Wangmann 2016)

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Ignores multifaceted response required (Wangmann 2016)

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IPCC: police failings

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E.g., pregnancy, has children, may be undocumented, doesn’t want sexuality to be outed etc. Needs to be a long-term approach of wider systems of intervention and support Clare had made reports to GMP and more could have been done to protect her Findings aren’t unique but repeat concerns re wider police practices when it comes to DV

[the scheme] fails to take into account the considerable barriers to leaving a violent partner. We foresee situations where a woman may be ‘blamed’ by social services – and wider society – for failing to protect her children if she chooses not to leave her partner following disclosure. (Refuge 2012: 2 as cited in FitzGibbon and Walklate 2017: 294) There are problematic gender scripts such as ‘she asked for it’, ‘why didn’t she just leave’ etc

Lecture 3: Clare’s Law Example Essay

Example Essay question: “Clare’s law serves only to responsibilise victims and does little to address domestic abuse.” Discuss. ¡ ¡

Introduction Main body ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡

What is domestic abuse? (Brief) How does the criminal justice system tackle domestic abuse? (Police failings, for example) What is Clare’s Law? What does it do? What was its purpose? What are the positives of Clare’s Law? (If any) What are the problems with Clare’s Law (academic critique!!!) ¡ ¡

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Yes, it responsibilises or no it does not… Yes, it addresses DV or no it does not…

Conclusion

Section C’s essay question relies more on academic commentary than it does to laws and statutes Intro = explain why topic is important, give the context, state argument Main body = where ‘meat’ of answer is provided. Demonstrates you know the material and central aspects of the topic. Anything that is not general knowledge needs to be referenced – be specific any time you mention an idea that is not your own. Conclusion = restate argument. Don’t present new information. End with snappy point that relates back to particular question posed Essay questions = analyse and critique the law When answering essay Q not only should you use resources provided as reference but also do own independent research from reputable sources that can help with developing argument and critiquing the law Split answer into paragraphs – for each one make one main point and several supporting points. Best to make the main point at the start of each paragraph Ensure to provide the legal evidence – if not demonstrated it will be assumed that you don’t know it

Snowball method – start off with one source and look at its footnotes and read relevant ones to then further find academic commentary and keep going Do not just mention academics for the sake of it or reference things just because. Needs to exhibit a strong analysis and clear understanding RELEVANCE IS KEY – make sure everything written is relevant to the question and argument bringing forward...