Dr Houghton's talk concerns the involvement of young people, particularly young abuse survivors, in policy-making, through a case study of the recent domestic abuse legislation. The first draft of the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill did not mention children and young people, but an impact project with 8 young domestic abuse survivors challenged policy-makers and Justice leads and ‘sent the Bill team back to the drawing board’. The aggravation in relation to a child now goes some way to recognising that children are adversely affected by domestic abuse, however young people involved felt it didn’t go far enough in recognising them as ‘victims alongside their mothers’. This presentation will discuss the participatory process and the Act itself. It will then consider findings of the Domestic Abuse Court Experience Project on the implementation of the Act in relation to victims’ and witnesses’ perspectives on recognition of the harm to children. Dr Houghton will share her framework for the participation of young people in policy, co-developed with young survivors.
Claire Houghton is a Lecturer within the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include gender and Violence, children's rights, feminist theory, and research ethics. She was recently project lead for an ESRC-funded study on global responses to domestic violence and abuse under Covid-19.
- Speaker
- Dr Claire Houghton
- Hosted by
- School of Law
- Venue
- Hybrid Event (On Campus Venue - C11)
- Contact
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- Event is free and open to all. For online access to the event please contact law-research@abdn.ac.uk
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