Prevention of domestic abuse bill, share your thoughts in the comments

IF SCOTLAND IS SERIOUS ABOUT TACKLING DOMESTIC ABUSE — IS IT TIME TO LOOK AGAIN AT THE PREVENTION OF DOMESTIC ABUSE (SCOTLAND) BILL?
The Scottish Government has made strong commitments to tackling violence against women and girls.
The First Minister has promised personal leadership. Ministers have spoken about strengthening protection, holding perpetrators accountable and looking at the use of GPS technology for bail monitoring.
So should Scotland now look again at the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill, which was withdrawn earlier this year?
The Bill included proposals around:
• Domestic abuse offender notification requirements to help police identify and manage serious and repeat offenders.
• Rehabilitation and behaviour-change interventions for people convicted of domestic abuse offences.
• Better collection and reporting of domestic abuse data, helping Scotland understand patterns of offending and where intervention is failing.
• Domestic abuse education and prevention in schools, tackling attitudes and behaviours before they become entrenched.
But I believe we should go further.
Add the principles behind Stacy’s Law.
For perpetrators assessed as posing a high domestic abuse risk, Scotland should have the ability to use GPS electronic monitoring on bail or licence, individually assessed exclusion zones and appropriate alerts to police and the person at risk when restrictions are breached.
Think about what that could create:
PREVENTION
Education and early intervention.
ACCOUNTABILITY
Better identification and management of serious and repeat domestic abuse offenders.
REHABILITATION
Programmes aimed at changing abusive behaviour.
PROTECTION
GPS monitoring and exclusion zones for those assessed as posing a high risk.
EVIDENCE
Better domestic abuse data to help shape future policy.
No single measure will end domestic abuse. But together, these measures could form part of a much stronger system — one that focuses on prevention, perpetrator accountability and protecting the person at risk.
After everything Scotland has witnessed, perhaps the question should not simply be why the previous Bill was withdrawn.
The question should be: what was worth keeping, what needed improving, and what should now be added?
If the Scottish Government is serious about delivering change, this could be an opportunity to bring the strongest elements together — including the protections being called for through Stacy’s Law.
We need more than promises.
We need action. We need accountability. And we need protection before another life is lost.
#StacysLaw #DomesticAbuseScotland #ViolenceAgainstWomenAndGirls #GPSMonitoring #RiseAgainstAbuse www.riseagainstabuse.com