Reviewed and updated 21 August 2026 against current Crown Prosecution Service guidance and the Crime and Policing Act 2026.
By Aneeta Prem MBE
The Crown Prosecution Service changed its prosecution guidance on so-called honour-based abuse, forced marriage and harmful practices on 26 February 2026.
The revised guidance expressly covers forms of abuse that can be missed when a case is treated as a single incident or a private family dispute. These include dowry abuse, immigration-related abuse, transnational marriage abandonment and spiritual or ritual abuse.
Virginity testing and hymenoplasty were also added to reflect changes in the law.
Since that CPS update, Parliament has enacted sections 143 and 144 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, creating a statutory framework for multi-agency guidance and a definition of “honour-based abuse” for that purpose. As at 21 August 2026, those sections are not among the provisions automatically commenced and still require commencement regulations before they take effect.
Those are two related but different developments: the CPS guidance is current prosecution guidance; the Act creates an enacted statutory framework whose relevant sections still await commencement.
There is still no standalone offence of honour-based abuse
This distinction matters.
The 2026 Act does not turn “honour-based abuse” into one new criminal offence. Existing conduct continues to be prosecuted using the offences that fit the evidence — for example assault, coercive or controlling behaviour, stalking, harassment, sexual offences, forced marriage, FGM offences, threats, kidnap or murder.
The definition enacted in section 144 is intended to support the multi-agency guidance provided for by section 143 once those provisions are commenced.
In other words, the definition is intended to help services identify and respond consistently to the pattern. Criminal liability still depends on the underlying offence.
What the CPS added in February 2026
The CPS says the strengthened guidance is intended to help prosecutors recognise evolving harmful practices and build cases where victims may be controlled, coerced or unable to participate safely in a prosecution.
The additions are important because abuse may be enforced through money, immigration status, family networks or claims of religion or belief rather than through one obvious assault.
Dowry abuse
The CPS describes dowry abuse as a harmful practice that can involve demands for money or assets, financial control, extortion, threats, coercion, isolation, domestic servitude, physical violence, psychological abuse, sexual abuse or other criminal behaviour.
There is no specific UK offence called “dowry abuse”. Prosecutors have to identify the criminal conduct within the wider pattern.
That is an important safeguard against two mistakes: treating every dowry tradition as criminal, or treating abuse connected to dowry demands as a harmless cultural dispute.
Immigration-related abuse
The revised guidance recognises the use of immigration status as a means of control.
Examples can include threats of deportation, withholding documents, restricting access to advice or support, financial control and threats to report somebody to the authorities.
Immigration uncertainty can make a victim especially dependent on the person abusing them. Prosecutors are directed to consider the full circumstances and the offences that may apply.
Transnational marriage abandonment
The CPS includes transnational marriage abandonment within immigration-related abuse.
This can involve a spouse being taken or left abroad without money or documents and with their ability to return to the UK deliberately restricted.
Again, the label itself is not a criminal charge. The task is to identify the underlying conduct, the pattern of control and the available offences or safeguarding remedies.
Spiritual or ritual abuse
The guidance also addresses abuse linked to accusations of witchcraft, spirit or demonic possession, harmful exorcism practices and other faith- or belief-related justifications.
The CPS lists possible behaviours including physical violence, starvation, forced ingestion of harmful substances, neglect, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and homicide.
Belief is not a defence to criminal harm.
Professionals should understand the context without allowing the context to obscure the offence.
Virginity testing and hymenoplasty
The CPS guidance also now expressly covers virginity testing and hymenoplasty in light of the legislation prohibiting those practices.
These cases may sit within a wider pattern of control, threats, surveillance and pressure linked to ideas about sexual behaviour or family reputation.
Accurate safeguarding requires professionals to understand both the specific legal prohibition and the wider context in which the practice is being demanded or arranged.
What the 2026 statutory definition is designed to add
Section 144 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 sets out the definition of honour-based abuse for the purposes of the statutory-guidance framework, subject to commencement.
In broad terms, it covers abusive behaviour towards a family member or relevant connection where the perpetrator is motivated wholly or partly by a belief that the victim has behaved, is behaving or may behave in a way perceived to bring shame or dishonour and to breach accepted community norms.
The definition expressly recognises that abuse may involve more than one perpetrator.
That matters because these cases can involve collective pressure rather than a single abuser acting alone.
Why I use “dishonour abuse”
Professionals need to know the official language. The CPS and the legislation use “honour-based abuse”, and that wording should be quoted accurately when discussing law, guidance and statistics.
In my own campaigning and safeguarding work, I use dishonour abuse.
I use it because the victim has not dishonoured anyone by choosing a partner, refusing a marriage, seeking an education, leaving abuse or asking for help. The dishonour lies in the coercion, threats and violence used against them.
That is a language choice, not a substitute legal definition.
What professionals should take from the change
The most useful feature of the 2026 developments is that they push systems towards recognising patterns.
Professionals should be alert to:
- several relatives or other people reinforcing the same pressure;
- financial or dowry demands used as a means of control;
- immigration status or documents being used to trap somebody;
- a person being stranded abroad or prevented from returning;
- claims of faith, possession or ritual being used to justify harm;
- threats linked to family or community reputation; and
- several incidents that appear minor separately but form a coercive pattern together.
Recognition is only the beginning. Evidence still has to be gathered properly, risk assessed and the correct legal or safeguarding response used.
Final word
The CPS guidance is already in force as prosecution guidance. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 has also enacted a clearer statutory framework for future multi-agency guidance, but sections 143 and 144 still require commencement.
That is progress, but precision matters.
A better definition cannot protect somebody by itself. The real test is whether police, prosecutors, health services, schools and safeguarding agencies recognise the pattern early enough to act.
Language matters because it helps systems see abuse. Protection depends on what they do once they see it.
Sources and further reading
- CPS: strengthened harmful-practices guidance, 26 February 2026
- CPS prosecution guidance
- Crime and Policing Act 2026, section 143
- Crime and Policing Act 2026, section 144