Getting the balance right to protect women: reforming sentencing policy on domestic violence and murder

This week the government announced plans to introduce longer sentences for controlling ex-partners who murder following the end of a relationship, ensuring perpetrators of this heinous crime spend longer behind bars.  

• Too many women are murdered every year by those they should feel safest with.
• That is why the Conservative government is overhauling the law to better protect vulnerable women – creating a new aggravating factor for murder at the end of a relationship to ensure controlling ex-partners spend longer behind bars, whilst also introducing a mitigating factor for victims of abuse who kill their partners. 
• We are working tirelessly to tackle violence against women, and these reforms will ensure perpetrators spend longer behind bars for their heinous crimes.