Domestic violence is an ongoing problem all around Europe. It is a severe issue that refers to all jurisdictions. The Swedish Prison and Probation Service took the initiative to explore, together with EuroPris and CEP, the possibility for establishing a joint expert group on the issue of domestic violence. A pre-meeting was organised in March in Stockholm with experts from Croatia, Belgium, England/Wales and Sweden to discuss current practices and gaps, also in relation to the provisions of the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention.
A lot of European countries try to improve the work with domestic violence and share good practices, but there is still a lot to be done. It is important to identify those who are sentenced for other crimes, but possibly also have a background of problems with domestic violence. Attention needs to be paid to the differences in cultural and religious backgrounds and to increase the knowledge about this matter in order to tackle domestic violence in different contexts.