What is Clare’s Law?
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The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), also known as ‘Clare’s Law’, enables the police to disclose information to a victim or potential victim of domestic abuse. This can be information about their partner’s or ex-partner’s previous abusive or violent offending.
Who is Clare?
Clare Wood was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in 2009 who has a history of being violent towards his partners. An inquest into Clare’s murder revealed a loophole in the Data Protection Act. The loophole prevents police from sharing information about individuals with a history of violence or abuse.
Clare’s father, Michael, believes this knowledge could have saved Clare’s life. Michael began a passionate campaign with a vision to create a police disclosure scheme. A scheme that would allow everyone the right to know of a partner’s history of violence.
Clare’s Law has already saved hundreds of lives.
The ‘Right to Ask’ and the ‘Right to Know’
The scheme has two elements:
- The ‘Right to Ask’ allows ...
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