Domestic abusers to be flagged by courts to raised observe vile criminals
Domestic abuse is already recognised as an aggravating factor in a wide range of offences, such as assault or stalking – but until now there has been no consistent way to record it
More than 700 prisoners were freed early from jail last week as part of the first tranche of the early release prison scheme(Image: © 2026 PA Media, All Rights Reserved)
Courts will be ordered to record when an offence involves domestic abuse to better track offenders and beef up protections for victims.
For the first time, perpetrators will be formally flagged as domestic abusers in the system to manage the risks they pose and identify patterns of repeat offending.
Domestic abuse is already recognised as an aggravating factor in a wide range of offences, such as assault or stalking, but until now there has been no consistent way to record it once an offender is convicted.
Frontline staff – including police and probation officers – will now be able to see domestic abuse flags on a criminal’s profile on their system to help them better manage risks.
Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones said: “Too many victims have suffered because patterns of abusive behaviour have not always been recognised across the justice system.
“This is an important step towards better identifying dangerous perpetrators, protecting victims and delivering on our commitment to halve violence against women and girls.”
London’s Victims’ Commissioner Andrea Simon welcomed the new specific domestic abuse flag, especially given the early release of thousands of offenders.
She said: “Within the context of early prison releases, it is vital that justice agencies can effectively identify and respond to the risks posed by domestic abuse perpetrators and put the right interventions in place to protect victims from further harm.”
More than 700 prisoners were freed early from jail last week as part of the first tranche of the early release prison scheme.
Victims’ groups have raised concerns over the effectiveness of safeguards. On Sunday, Justice Secretary Alex Norris was unable to say how many prisoners freed early from jail have been tagged.
Officials said there was a presumption that all criminals released early would be fitted with GPS tags, but Mr Norris said it was “too soon” to have the numbers.
Asked how many of those released so far had been tagged, Mr Norris told the BBC : “I don’t have that figure today, it only happened on Thursday. You know, there can be a bit of a lag. We don’t have that number. But you know, we’re very candid about who’s leaving prison and when they do.”
Asked if he knew if released domestic abusers have been tagged or not, he said: “It would be too soon to know that, as it was only on Thursday. We’ve been talking to every victim to to offer them the chance to say what controls they’d like to see over that individual.”
Nearly 5,000 prisoners are set to be freed in stages over the next year under the plans.
Meanwhile, Mr Norris also insisted the courts backlog will still be slashed despite ministers U-turning on controversial plans to curb jury trials. He said introducing legislation for judge-only trials would have been “complicated to implement” and would slow down other planned reforms.
Former Justice Secretary David Lammy had previously told MPs the reforms were “desperately needed” to prevent victims facing “agonising delays”.
