Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Get help or get arrested

Get help or get arrested New domestic violence awareness campaign targets witnesses

Domestic violence is any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between adults who are or have been in a relationship together, or between family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.

And although it's chronically under reported, research estimates that domestic violence accounts for 17% of all violent crime (source: Crime in England and Wales 2004/2005), has more repeat victims than any other crime, and will affect one in four women and one in six men in their lifetime.

The Home Office is sending a clear message that friends, family and witnesses of domestic violence can help. This ranges from being supportive, to calling the national helpline and reporting the abuse to the police. The cumulative effect of this collection of adverts is intended to change the public's attitudes to domestic violence, to make them realise that they can play a vital role in helping to stop abuse. The work aims to reassure victims that the legal system has been strengthened to help them and to promote the national helpline for either victims, or their friends and family to call.

This year's communications strategy is grounded in the research undertaken by RDS and the British Crime Survey. Statistics told us that over 60% of victims do tell someone else about their abuse (usually a friend or family member). From this insight we decided to leverage the role of these potential "witnesses" by speaking directly to them, in the knowledge that victims would "over hear" these messages, as they share the same socio demographic profile and therefore consume the same media.

Hence the Home Office's advertising campaign: released across the country in three monthly phases, each burst of advertising activity will use a combination of local newspapers, local radio stations and posters. Adverts will also be displayed in women's washrooms, bingo halls, doctors' surgeries and on TV screens within antenatal clinics at hospitals.

Media placement and roll out

The campaign will be phased into three one month bursts to complement the specialist courts programme.

• Burst 1 14th Feb 06 - North West & Wales
  (Halton, Wigan, Salford, Leigh, Lancashire, Gwent, Cardiff, Neath and Port Talbot, Miskin)

• Burst 2 14th March 06 - East & West Midlands, North East & London
  (Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Derby, Durham, Croydon, Hammersmith & Fulham)

• Burst 3 14th April 06 - Yorkshire, South West & South East
  (Leeds, Hampshire, Devon, Plymouth, Sedgemoor, Cambridge)

Each burst will use a combination of local newspapers, local radio stations and posters within the specialist court areas. Posters will be targeted to female washrooms, bingo halls, doctors surgery's and on TV screens within ante-natal clinics at hospitals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last update: 3 March 2006