Criminal Justice
Standing Together’s criminal justice team coordinate, evaluate and champion Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts.
Since as early as 1998, STADA have worked on establishing effective referral pathways for victims of domestic abuse through the CJS. Specialist Domestic Abuse Courts (SDACs) form part of this collaborative approach to tackling the complexities of domestic abuse. The SDAC model refers to more than just a court building or jurisdiction: our approach situates the court and the criminal justice system (CJS) as part of a Coordinated Community Response (CCR) to domestic abuse, engaging the whole system.
We believe that SDACs should be a fundamental part of the government’s approach to improving the support and protection provided to victims of domestic abuse. We provide support to those looking to set up an SDAC; coordinate two SDACs and all the relevant support agencies at Westminster Magistrate’s Court; and produce resource packs and data reports to demonstrate the value of this approach for victims and survivors.
“I am confident that the Specialist Domestic Abuse Court at Hammersmith Magistrates Court saved much human misery and doubtless saved some lives too.”
District judge
As well as coordinating SDACs, STADA’s criminal justice team have led practice in relation to police training, establishing referral pathways to support for Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs) and early multi-agency case conferencing in relation to criminal justice cases which developed into the Multi- Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC).
What we do
In an SDAC, numerous criminal justice agencies work together to ensure the safety of the victim by identifying, tracking and risk-assessing domestic abuse, supporting victims, and sharing information effectively. The approach has been shown to improve outcomes for survivors, help increase convictions and reduce attrition and withdrawal rates for these cases.
Standing Together was instrumental in the development of the SDAC model, and developed one of the UK’s first SDACs at Hammersmith Magistrate’s Court in 2002. In 2012, Standing Together established another SDAC at Westminster Magistrates Court. Both SDACs continue to operate at Westminster Magistrates Court, coordinated by Standing Together in partnership with local criminal justice and voluntary services.
Standing Together also runs the Impact Project, a multi-agency partnership in Hammersmith, London bringing dedicated, specialist professionals together to share information and take action. Between 2021 and 2023 we also ran the Mentor Court Project, a DCMS Tampon-Tax funded project working to reinvigorate the SDAC model nationally, in turn improving outcomes for victims and survivors.
For more information about the operational work we do to coordinate the courts, please see our briefings.
2000: trained all frontline police officers in Hammersmith and Fulham
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2002: Hammersmith SDAC becomes the first in the UK to hear trials
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2006: Complete provision of 2 year training programme for justices and court staff
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2007: develop the SDAC toolkit to support the creation of SDACS nationwide
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2013: DDAC at Westminster established
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2014: STADA becomes a core member of CPS Scrutiny Panel and Consultation Group for VAWG
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2014: Impact Project established
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2021: Mentor Court Project begins to map and reinvigorate the SDAC model nationwide
2000: trained all frontline police officers in Hammersmith and Fulham 〰️ 2002: Hammersmith SDAC becomes the first in the UK to hear trials 〰️ 2006: Complete provision of 2 year training programme for justices and court staff 〰️ 2007: develop the SDAC toolkit to support the creation of SDACS nationwide 〰️ 2013: DDAC at Westminster established 〰️ 2014: STADA becomes a core member of CPS Scrutiny Panel and Consultation Group for VAWG 〰️ 2014: Impact Project established 〰️ 2021: Mentor Court Project begins to map and reinvigorate the SDAC model nationwide
“Having information regarding domestic violence history is important. A specially trained Bench is crucial in imposing the right type of sentence. The multi-agency approach really does help. It is important for the SDVC to continue as it is a valuable response.”
— Senior Probation Officer
“I am very pleased to have received such understanding and support whilst going through this process. I feel that this has benefited myself and others whom have suffered domestic violence – if the occasion arose again I would not hesitate to press charges”
— Survivor of domestic abuse
What we can do for you
We can help you set up and operate a Specialist Domestic Abuse Court in your local area. If you already have an SDAC, we can evaluate and identify areas for improvement in operational work, data collection and performance management as well as referral pathways and protocols. Please contact us using the form below.
Contact Standing Together’s Criminal Justice team
Please submit your details via the form, and we will be in touch as soon as we can.
Additional queries can be directed to us by email at: criminal.justice@standingtogether.org.uk