ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that interest in family violence has increased in recent decades, in the domain of research as well as that of policy and practice. Research has revealed a gap between the representation of family violence in registered (police) data and the real amount of violence taking place, the so-called dark number. The message that comes across from victim experiences is that the match between victims needs and the police response is crucial for victims' trust in the legal system and thereby directly related to the dark number in family violence. If victim experiences result in loss of trust in the legal system, the dark number in family violence will remain high or even increase. The fact that so few victims of family violence report the violence to the police, and the negative experiences of those who do, have drawn attention to the role of the police as gatekeeper to the legal system.
