THIS week I’ve been dealing with a piece of legislation which will update our laws on child cruelty and domestic abuse.

The Serious Crime Bill is designed to clarify the law so everyone – courts, prosecutors andvictims – know where they stand.

During my work as a barrister and as a judge, I’ve seen cases where the current laws don’t seem to have been strong enough to protect children properly.

These reforms should help make the net stronger so that we can catch the small number of parents and carers who inflict significant harm on their children which up to now has gone unnoticed or unpunished.

This is especially relevant when the cruelty is not physical, but emotional.

It won’t be an offence if mum puts a child on the “naughty step” and ignores them for a short time as a punishment.

The law would be used, for instance, if a parent was found to be repeatedly locking their child in a room for hours on end. It’s designed to root out sustained humiliation, isolation or bullying. It will be for police, working with social services to investigate whether an offence has been committed.

But overall we are making it clearer that emotional cruelty is an abhorrent crime which should be punished.

Looking at the wider scope of the Serious Crime Bill, I will also be overseeing a host of other aspects of the Bill including domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse is a serious crimeStatistics from the Crime Survey for England and Wales suggest.9 million people were victims of domestic violence last year. It shatters the lives of its victims and leads to tragic deaths.

Some aspects are captured by the law on stalking and harassment. But that does not apply to controlling behaviour where perpetrators conceal their abuse within a relationship. So we will have a new offence which will criminalise these patterns of behaviour. It will attract a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment.

I am proud to be helping to bring about these changes which should mean protection for the most vulnerable in our society.