Why should I gather evidence to prove domestic abuse?
Whether you’re going to the police or seeing a lawyer or other adviser, the first thing you always have to do is explain what’s been going on. If it’s something that’s been happening over a long time it’s really difficult to remember things accurately. You might have experienced lots of different kinds of abusive experiences, like verbal emotional and economic abuse, violence, threats etc., over a long time and you won’t be able to remember all of it well enough. You certainly won’t remember when each event happened. In fact you will probably have forgotten a lot of the details or even actual events and be missing some vital supporting evidence like texts, photos, voice messages etc. You need these kinds of things to prove what you are saying. In addition it’s unlikely you will remember clearly the order things happened in. It’s all too much to recall and memories can change over time. That’s why the police complete contemporaneous notes when they’ve investigating crimes. If you’re not prepared enough to tell your story you’ll be feeling on the back foot and anxious, knowing that and thinking you’ll be humiliated if you take it to court. However, if you used ONRECORD to gather evidence to prove domestic abuse and made detailed records every time something happened, then the whole timeline and all your evidence would be altogether in one place, at your fingertips for you to share and get help.
How will I know what to record?
You’ll find lots of helpful guidance on this website and online about how to gather evidence domestic abuse, making records and what kind of things to record. Here are some of them but explore our website further and we have video guidance with more help on using the app.
Domestic abuse –
https://www.myonrecord.com/onrecord-helps-you-with/domestic-abuse/
How to make good records –
https://www.myonrecord.com/how-to-make-good-records/
Record keeping example of a domestic abuse case
https://www.myonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/NewDomestic-Abuse-Case-Study.pdf
You will also find a wealth of information and help here:
For men –
And on GovUK https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-abuse-how-to-get-help
What’s the best way to gather evidence to prove domestic abuse?
If you’re going to gather evidence to prove domestic abuse ONRECORD is by far the best way to keep detailed notes of what has been happening and what happens next. Why? It’s been specifically designed with evidence in mind by a lawyer and a doctor with years of experience in litigation. With ONRECORD, as well as keeping the actual records with supporting evidence, you keep a calendar and timeline to show easily and quickly when and what happened. You can also rate how much each event worried or harmed you so the most serious events can be identified quickly by your adviser. All of your records, which get sorted by ONRECORD into date/time order can be shared securely with someone you choose and who you can then message in-app for support/advice. You can share with a professional and/or a family member or friend depending on who you trust.
If you’re concerned about using an app thinking it might be dangerous having it on your phone in case your partner found it, then don’t keep the app on the phone. Delete it as soon as the recording is done. Download it again when you want to make another record. The records are safely kept on our secure servers and cannot be interfered with. Remember though don’t ever share your user name and password either, so no one could log in to your account.
How do I go about gathering evidence to prove domestic abuse?
When you gather evidence to prove domestic abuse you should make a record every time something happens and also make retrospective records to cover those things that you can recall from the past. You may start to see a pattern developing that will help you and your advisers/supporters understand your case. You’ll certainly be able to see the frequency of the problems you’re encountering and their seriousness. Seeing something displayed on a calendar or a timeline starts to help you put things in perspective. You’ll be pleased you kept records, as you’ll have something you can show an advisor or take to the police or lawyer and get help more quickly. When you decide to take action the records can be downloaded in the form of a chronology for use in making your case.
Getting help for domestic abuse
Getting help with domestic abuse is crucial and often it takes many attempts before someone is ready to take legal action and/or leave home. Then despite the seriousness of the abuse it can sometimes be very hard to get the attention your situation needs. Services, such as the police, have resources which are stretched. Many police authorities are being criticized for failing to help and understand complainants, sometimes resulting in tragic outcomes. You need to get their attention and make them take you seriously. Being well prepared is one way of making sure your case is dealt with properly. A half baked account of what’s happened to you with next to nothing in the way of supporting evidence won’t get as good a reaction from the police or a lawyer as a well written full account backed up with lots of supporting evidence. You’ll be perceived as someone who’s organized and reliable too, which also makes people take you seriously. You’ll have a record which has kept all your evidence together in one place so the police will be forced to see it as a whole rather than a series of single unconnected events dealt with by different personnel. Your lawyer will be able to see the situation you’re in easily and start to prepare a statement and get things moving.
Don’t leave your situation to chance and just hope that if the time comes, someone else will sort things out for you. Take control and gather the evidence yourself. You’ll probably do a better job yourself and you’ll certainly do a better job than a police officer or lawyer who’s distracted by a large caseload already.