Posted by The Law School
11 June 2026Dr Charlotte Bishop from the University of Exeter Law School is the Primary Investigator for a new research project, Rethinking Maternal Responsibility: Prosecuting ‘Failures to Protect’ and the Criminalisation of Domestic Abuse Victim-Survivors.
The two year project is funded by a £302,000 Catalyst Award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which supports established researchers to lead their first large research project. Dr Bishop will investigate how mothers are held criminally responsible when children are harmed or killed in the context of domestic abuse focusing on the use of the ‘failure-to-protect’ offence under Section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Originally introduced to enable prosecutions where it was unclear which adult caused a child’s death, this offence has raised concerns for its disproportionate use to criminalise mothers, particularly those who are themselves victims of coercive control and abuse.
Although these are criminal prosecutions, they cannot be understood in isolation from the wider legal and policy landscape. In particular, the project recognises the inseparable nature of criminal justice, family court proceedings, and public child protection systems in this context. These overlapping systems can generate profound tensions and impossible choices: mothers may remain in abusive situations to protect their children from greater risks – such as unsupervised contact with abusive parents – but at the same time child protection frameworks often place responsibility on mothers to prevent harm, creating the risk of children being removed if they are seen to have failed to do so.
I’m delighted to receive this funding to carry out work that addresses the criminalisation of mothers in the context of domestic abuse – an issue with far-reaching and often devastating consequences. When mothers are prosecuted or imprisoned, the impact extends well beyond the individual case, affecting children, families, and communities over the long term. It’s especially significant to see feminist, critical work of this kind being recognised and supported by a research council, and I hope the project will help drive more informed and just approaches in law and policy.
Dr Charlotte Bishop
Using an intersectional feminist framework, legal analysis and qualitative methods the project will analyse prosecution patterns, legal judgments, and professional narratives to understand how blame and responsibility are constructed in these cases. It will also explore how factors such as coercive control, poverty, racism, and institutional failings shape both mothers’ actions and how those actions are judged.
Alongside its academic outputs, the project includes participatory workshops with survivors and practitioners, leading to the co-creation of a short film. This creative element will translate research findings into an accessible and impactful format, designed to engage professionals, policymakers, and the public.
By explicitly addressing the intersections between criminal justice, family law, and child protection, the project aims to generate impact across all three spheres, supporting more context-sensitive understandings of maternal responsibility and contributing to more just and effective responses to domestic abuse.