Mental trauma ‘must be part of family-violence prosecutions’

Australia’s legal system should ensure that family-violence offenders are held responsible for psychological harm inflicted on their victims, according to a leading Victorian criminal lawyer.

Deakin University law academic Paul McGorrey has called for lawyers and police to “re-think their approach to prosecuting non-physical forms of family violence”.

McGorrey, a senior lawyer with the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council, wants the impacts of mental trauma to be highlighted in domestic violence cases.