Pam Gosal MSP
11 May 2025
Domestic abuse is a scourge right across the country, with 64,000 instances recorded last year. That is one incident every 10 minutes.Today, I am absolutely delighted to announce that my Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill has been published, aiming to turn the tide on this abhorrent crime through a series of measures.
Firstly, a domestic abuse offenders register would work in a similar way to the sex offenders register, acting as a true deterrent and giving further protection to potential victims.
This bill would put in statue the need to rehabilitate those convicted of domestic abuse, while mandating that domestic abuse education be taught in our schools.
Finally, it will improve the gathering and publication of statistics, as the more we know about who the victims and culprits, the more police and government will be able to take focused, effective action.
My bill has received the backing of so many organisations and survivors of domestic abuse, and now that it has been published, it will begin its journey through the Holyrood committee system and will ultimately be debated and voted on by MSPs.
Domestic abuse is largely inculcated in the home.
Monkey see, monkey do, might be the allegory for learned behaviour. But it’s not just domestic abuse. Nasty as it is, the term is coded language for women abuse by men.
Abuse however is much wider than that. Women batter men albeit to nothing like the level the otherwise round. There is the abuse of children which comes in many shapes and forms. And then of course there is the violence on our streets where as an example knife crime.
It’s a cultural spectrum and a spectrum that needs to be addressed. Hopefully this is what Pam Gossal was think about and not just the odious narrow man bests wife or partner scenario.