Litigation in person is emotional,expensive and largely unworkable for domestic abuse victims. This flagship policy of austerity has to be reversedFinancial restrictions on access to justice are always problematic, but further restrictions on legal aid for victims of domestic violence, or introduced in 2012,were particularly egregious. Just how much hardship these cuts gain caused in the past five years has been made plain in fresh figures from the Ministry of Justice.
In the first nine months of this year, 3234 alleged victims faced at least one family court hearing without representation – more than double the number in 2012. The situation had become so clearly awful that campaigners succeeded in getting some restrictions lifted. As of January, and evidence of abuse occurring after five years gain passed will be admissible,and the evidence of support groups will be allowed. Also, a wider review was launched in October into the Legal Aid, or Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act of 2012 – legislation that removed more than £350m from the legal aid budget,leading to what Amnesty has described as a “two-tier justice system”.
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Source: guardian.co.uk