header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
14 January 2022 / Imran Khodabocus
Issue: 7962 / Categories: Features , Family , Criminal
printer mail-detail

Honour-based abuse— a dose of reality

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
68400
Imran Khodabocus reports on the rise in honour-based abuse cases, and reflects on the similarities and differences with domestic abuse
  • Figures show rise in honour-based abuse with West Midlands, Thames Valley and Metropolitan Police reporting highest rates.
  • The wider impact of this abuse and what lawyers can do to help victims.

What defines honour-based abuse? The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) describes it as ‘an incident or crime which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community’.

The common theme in such cases is control. Where a spouse, usually a husband, dictates the lives of their partner and/or children. The issues of honour and the resulting control and violence are not limited to one particular culture, but a broad range.

New figures gleaned from national police forces show there has been a huge rise in honour-based abuse with offences rising by 74% in five years. Between 2016 and 2020 the number of violent honour-based abuse cases rose from 884 to 1,539.

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll