Disclosure Team
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Jason Elliott
xxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
April 2023
Dear Mr Elliott
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request 230320013
Thank you for your request dated 20 March 2023 in which you asked for the following
information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):
On the 17th March 2023, Dominic Raab announced that further to above review made
the following statement "Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of
State for Justice, Dominic Raab said: This government will do everything we can to
protect vulnerable women, and keep in prison for longer those who attack or threaten
them. The changes I am announcing today will mean longer jail sentences for those
who kill women in the home, by taking greater account of the specific factors
involved, whether it is controlling and coercive behaviour or cases involving
particular savagery known as ‘overkill’."
In addition, the review stated the Methodology used "1.4 Methodology 1.4.1 The first
part of the Review involved taking a sample of 120 cases of domestic homicide
between 2018 and 2020 where the victim was a partner or ex-partner of the offender.
The cases were identified from data supplied by the Crown Prosecution
Service/HMCTS, the Home Office Homicide Index and some ad hoc research (from
news reports and other sources). The majority of the cases were concluded in the
courts during the financial years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. I request to know:
1.
Please provide the GENDERS of all 120 cases used as the sample above which
formed the basis of the whole review.
2.
Explain why Mr Raab only referred to 'women' in his statement above, and that
in fact on record , any such sentencing as he describes is for Male and Female
Perpetrators, please provide where it is in Law, such sentencing will apply to
WOMENN perpetrators as well as men.
Your request has been handled under the FOIA.
I can confirm that the MoJ holds the information that you have requested under Question 1.
However, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA, because it
is reasonably accessible to you.
The information can be accessed via the following links, in Table 1 in Appendix D of the
Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review (page 123).
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-homicide-sentencing-review https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_da
ta/file/1143045/domestic-homicide-sentencing-review.pdf In respect of Question 2, this does not fall under the FOIA. It may be helpful if I explain that
the FOIA gives individuals and organisations the right of access to all types of recorded
information held, at the time the request is received, by public authorities such as the MoJ.
Section 84 of FOIA states that in order for a request for information to be handled as a FOI
request, it must be for recorded information. For example, an FOI request would be for a
copy of a policy, rather than an explanation as to why we have that policy in place. On
occasion, such as Question 2, the Ministry of Justice receives requests that do not ask for
recorded information, but ask more general questions about, for example, a policy, opinion
or a decision. Although this request does not fall under the FOIA, I am able to provide a
response to your question.
The sentencing framework is gender-neutral and the changes the government is making in
response to the Domestic Homicide Sentencing Review will apply equally to all. However, it
is important that we recognise the gendered nature of domestic homicide and therefore the
gendered impact that these changes will have. Most of the perpetrators in the cases
analysed for the Review were male, accounting for 83% of all cases, 91% of murder cases
and 58% of manslaughter cases. In all cases with a male perpetrator the victim was female.
In over half of the murder cases reviewed a history of controlling or coercive behaviour
against the victim was identified and in all these cases the perpetrator was male. Overkill
occurred in 60% of the murder cases, with a male perpetrator in all but one case.
In terms of the cases which were analysed for the Review, the aim was to consider all
homicide cases concluded in the courts between 2018 and 2020 where the victim was a
partner or ex-partner of the offender. While it is not guaranteed that every such case has
been identified, this was the intention and there was no selection process.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to request an internal review by
responding in writing to one of the addresses below within two months of the date of this
response.
xxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Disclosure Team, Ministry of Justice
You do have the right to ask the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate any
aspect of your complaint. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect internal
complaints procedures to have been exhausted before beginning their investigation.
Yours sincerely
Bail, Sentencing and Release Policy
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