Dismantling the Masterplot of Domestic Violence and Abuse

This chapter investigates the use of storytelling within law reform and how an appreciation of the narrative devices deployed in these stories might offer fresh insights into their ability to affect successful legislative changes and, in turn, dismantle socio-cultural masterplots. Taking as a case study the Domestic Abuse Bill and evidence submitted prior to, and during, the Bill’s passage through Parliament, this chapter analyses the narratives presented in these reports and their attempts to persuade law makers to dismantle the ‘masterplot’ of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). It argues that there is a correlation between the erasure of voice in organisational narratives and the legal reproduction of the masterplot of DVA, offering a narrative explication as to why policy influencers failed to persuade law makers to make the changes they desire. This chapter thus proposes that if a masterplot is going to continue to be dismantled through further reform, then we need to turn to a narrative solution and consider how storytelling within law reform can be used more effectively.