Record number of domestic violence remedy orders
Making it easier to seek a domestic violence remedy order may have contributed to applications reaching an all-time high, says the Ministry of Justice.
They were at a record 7,876 in the three months to September. At 8,839 during the same period, orders granted were also the highest since records began in 2009. Those numbers are respectively 23.3% and 18.0% higher than in the corresponding period last year.
In commentary accompanying the statistics’ release, the ministry said the increases may be linked to new legislation introduced in January 2018.
“Changes to legal aid eligibility introduced new forms of evidence, expanded the scope of existing evidence and completely removed the time limit from all forms of evidence for domestic abuse. “These changes have made it easier for victims, or those at risk, of domestic abuse to obtain and provide the evidence required to access legal aid, and in doing so, this may have impacted on the number of domestic violence applications and orders,” the ministry said.
