Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 - male victims' experiences of the criminal justice system: emerging findings

Survey aims and research questions

The primary aim of the research was to meet the reporting requirement of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 Section 14 (2f) as set out above.

The research aimed to capture the views and experiences of (male) adult victims/survivors at court in order to improve our understanding of the operation and effectiveness of the Act. The survey initially aimed to address the following research questions:

Since the introduction of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act in April 2019,

• How do male victims of domestic abuse experience the justice system, and specifically, going to court?
• In relation to the above, are there any points in the court process that victims find particularly difficult? And conversely, which aspects work well?
• What impact, if any, do the various stages of court processes and sentencing have on victims' reports of abuse?
• What is the impact of the court process on victims? What, if anything, do victims identify would improve their experiences of court?
• What do the findings tell us, if anything, about the impact and/or effectiveness of specific aspects of the DASA legislation including experiences of victims of coercive control, enhanced protection of children and, consideration and use of non-harassment orders (NHOs)?
• What has the impact of COVID-19 been on victim experiences of being involved in a domestic abuse court case? What are victim experiences of remote courts and how do they vary in relation to those that attend in person?

The research also set out to explore any differences in experience by victim demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity, disability), type of court (specialist vs non-specialist), and factors associated with positive or negative experiences. Due to the small sample size it was not possible to address these aspects or answer all of the research questions above. More information on research scope and limitations is provided in the section below.