David Cameron has said that his Government needs to get to grip on domestic abuse in Britain and make the justice system more “sympathetic” to victims.
Backbench MPs have called for a tough US-style law that would make domestic abuse a specific offence carrying up to 14 years in prison.
The campaign follows on from a successful effort to bring in new stalking laws in England and Wales.
They want a legal framework for domestic abuse allowing police and prosecutors to examine an offender's course of conduct over a period of time, not just an individual incident.
At the moment offenders who attack their partners are prosecuted for individual crimes such as rape or assault.
However if police could take account of the previous abusive behaviour of an offender supporters say more victims would report crimes before violence escalates.
The Prime Minister said: "We are looking very carefully at this, of course domestic violence is a crime if you beat someone, if you abuse someone, if you abuse them psychologically, if you stalk someone, if you threaten, those are all individual crimes.
“There's a question about whether we need to have a specific offence as well - and we're very happy to look at that.
He added: “I think the most important thing with domestic violence is to make sure that the police have the training and the understanding, so that when they get a call, they don't think 'well, it's a domestic, it's inside the house, there's nothing I can do'.
“It's a really important area of crime that we've got to get to grips with in our country.”
A new specific domestic violence offence would be an attempt to protect people who experience violence at the hands of their partners before it escalates to a lethal attack.
If you are worried about domestic violence at any time, please contact us - Sally Fitzherbert has experience with Womens Aid and domestic violence.
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