Seminars
As well as our training calender, our Seminar Series and Annual Conference provide policy makers and practitioners the opportunity to explore and discuss current issues relating to domestic abuse and violence against women.
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Children’s Experiences, Contact & Safety in the Context of Domestic Abuse – 35th Anniversary Seminar
- 29 February 12
- This seminar will begin with an overview of literature pertaining to children’s experiences of domestic abuse, looking at what research tells us about the impact on children and how they understand their experiences. It will then focus specifically on what children and young people are telling us about their experiences of contact with a father who has domestically abused their mother. The panel discussion will consider how what we know about children’s experiences shapes our practice in supporting children and campaigning on the issue.
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Seminar: Domestic Abuse and the Law
- 14 March 12
- Recent legislative developments have seen a potential increase in protection for those experiencing domestic abuse. A ‘legal loophole’ which meant that the common law offence of breach of the peace, often used to prosecute perpetrators of domestic abuse, was no longer appropriate in such abuse cases after a court ruling in July 2009 questioned whether offences that took place behind closed doors could have a ‘public element’. The new statutory offence, created through the recently-passed Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act, does not require any public element for an offence to have been committed. The Act also makes stalking a statutory offence. Furthermore the provisions of the new Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2011 in relation to harassment and breach of interdict, and the Forced Marriage Protection (Scotland) Act 2011 will have far-reaching implications.
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Seminar: Intimate Partner Violence & Who Is Doing What to Whom
- 22 March 12
- Debates about whether men experience domestic abuse with the same frequency as women and whether it is ‘the same’ or different continue to rage in the media. Importantly, these issues also have an impact on service provision and the shaping of appropriate responses to those experiencing violence and abuse. This seminar will consider what research tells us about who is doing what to whom and dig below the headline figures to draw a nuanced picture of the issue. The seminar will draw on recent research and theorising about the nature of violence that occurs in intimate relationships, and highlight work which suggests that there are several kinds of intimate partner violence that require differing service responses. It will conclude with a reframing of domestic abuse as a pattern of coercively controlling behaviour that constitutes a ‘liberty crime’
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Seminar: Understanding the Dynamics of Stalking
- 30 March 12
- The high incidence of stalking within our society provides many opportunities for support services to intervene, but first it is important the true nature of the problem is recognised and understood. Stalking is a dangerous and devastating crime that can irrevocably change the lives of victims. It is a crime, which has been poorly understood and without doubt minimized.