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07/03/09 : Anneliese welcomes new Government initiative on domestic violence :
A review set up by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith into how men who commit violence against a series of women could be monitored in the same way as those who abuse children has been welcomed by Anneliese Dodds, prospective Labour candidate for Reading East.
The review, announced to coincide with International Women's Day, will be carried out by Brian Moore, chief constable of Wiltshire and ACPO spokesperson on domestic violence.
Anneliese says: "Domestic violence and other forms of domestic abuse are huge issues in Reading as they are elsewhere. As many as I in 4 women may be victims of domestic abuse, and far too many children witness domestic violence on a regular basis. Jacqui Smith is surely right to want to target serial offenders who go from one relationship to another, beating up the women and terrorising the children. We have to find some way to break the cycle."
Anneliese praised Reading's Domestic Abuse Strategy (available on the Reading Borough Council website), the work of the Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership, the appointment of a domestic abuse co-ordinator, and the Council's support for Crossing Bridges which offers advice and help to victims.
"Domestic violence has always been with us," she says, "but it is only in recent years, and particularly under this Government, that it has been recognised as the heinous crime it is, not dismissed as 'just a domestic' but seen as something that can ruin peoples' lives, including children's lives. Jacqui Smith is proposing taking that recognition to yet another level, and with that sort of commitment we can see the possibility of really cutting this evil out of our society."
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