By Claire Ellicott
Mankind chairman Mark Brooks said the increase in the number of women being convicted of domestic violence was due to a combination of three factors.
“More men are coming forward, the police are taking a more balanced approach to domestic abuse and, unfortunately, there has been an increase in the number of violent women in our society,” he said.
“All domestic abuse is about power and control and with both female and male perpetrators, the abuser wants to totally control their partner.
“We need the government to invest in more services targeted specifically at men rather than just sweeping this issue under the carpet.”
In fact, official figures show that the number of women convicted of perpetrating domestic abuse has quadrupled in the past six years, from 806 in 2004-2005 to 3 494 in 2009-2010.
And although women are twice as likely to be victims of domestic abuse, men are much less likely to come forward.
Twice as many male victims (41 percent) as women (19 percent) do not tell anyone about the domestic abuse they are suffering, according to the British Crime Survey.
The CPS and Mankind figures also show that the number of men convicted of domestic violence rose in the same time period.
More than 55 000 men were prosecuted in 2010, compared with around 28 700 five years earlier.
A CPS spokesman said the service does support male victims of domestic violence.
He added: “There is no bias or lack of concern on the part of the CPS when dealing with cases involving male victims.”
The figures will add to a growing body of evidence that women are becoming more violent.
In 2009, official figures revealed that the number of women found guilty of murder, vicious assault and other attacks had risen by 81 percent since 1998.
Copyright Associated Newspapers Ltd
