Police gaslighting in UK domestic abuse cases

This article presents a categorisation of gaslighting behaviours found in survivor reports of interactions with UK law enforcement in relation to cases involving domestic abuse. This research shows how police interactions can both replicate perpetrator gaslighting behaviours and, consequently, reinforce perpetrator abuse for victims and survivors. A qualitative thematic analysis was applied to a survey of survivor experiences ( n = 235). Across the accounts, there were four key themes: (1) questioning the victim’s experience ; (2) blaming the victim ; (3) favouring the perpetrator ; (4) raising the topic of the victim’s mental health . In conjunction with these behaviours, an additional theme of reinforcing perpetrator’s abuse was also found. In addition to a categorisation of gaslighting behaviours found in police-survivor encounters, these findings were found to be in accordance with the concept of institutional betrayal. This can not only be experienced as a “second assault”, but also deter survivors from engaging with support services.