The figures make depressing reading. One in four women and one in six men experience domestic violence in their lifetimes. An average of two women a week in England and Wales are killed by current or former partners. Domestic violence incidents make up nearly a quarter of all violent crimes and yet surveys say that only between 11 and 35 per cent of such events are reported to the police.

This crime degrades both victim and perpetrator. And it is no respecter of age, race, sex or nationality. There are no significant differences in numbers between ethnic groups and it is the under-25s in all sections of society who are most likely to be affected. A study among Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Arab women found that half of those who had experienced domestic violence waited five years before they sought help.

Perhaps most depressing of all, a survey of 1,300 schoolchildren found that one in three boys thought violence against women was acceptable.

Academic research estimated the cost of dealing with domestic violence in the Hackney area alone in 1996 was £90 per household, equivalent to £278 million a year for Greater London alone. Multiply that nationally and the financial costs are huge.

So what are we to do to improve this state of affairs? The Government is committed to tackling domestic violence on every front. There are initiatives by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Home Office, the Crown Prosecution Service and the police. Type the words “domestic violence” into an internet search engine and it will throw up the contact details of dozens of aid groups covering every race, religious, ethnic, sexual, geographic and national grouping.

Education is the only solution. If we are serious about reducing the rate of domestic violence, we need to tackle the issue in the classroom, not the police interview room.

The author is the chief examiner of the Law Society Family Law Panel

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