Victims and Prisoners Bill ‘won’t deliver what victims need’, say campaigners
The Victims and Prisoners Bill will “not transform victims’ experiences without significant changes”, say campaigners working to end violence against women and girls (VAWG).
They claim the Bill fails to take steps to address inequalities in access to specialist support and justice for marginalised groups, including black and minoritised women.
And without adequate funding the Bill will be “ineffective”, they warned.
Responding to the “radical shakeup’ of the justice system announced by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday (March 29), the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition said women and girls’ confidence in justice agencies is at an all-time low because of “persistent failures” towards victims.
“VAWG remains disturbingly present in the UK today,” said the EVAW. “We know that one in four women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetimes, and only last week, new figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that 193,566 sexual offences were recorded by the police in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022 – the highest on record.
“Despite this, victims who report to the police find the odds stacked against them, with appallingly low charging, prosecution and conviction rates, as well as lengthy waits and poor treatment throughout the process.”
It added: “Women and girls’ confidence in justice agencies is at an all-time low because of their persistent failures towards victims and survivors of rape, sexual violence and domestic abuse.
“For black and minoritised women, the situation is even more dire. This is the backdrop against which the Victims and Prisoners Bill has arrived, and as it stands, we are concerned that it will not transform victims’ experiences without significant changes.”
While it welcomed legislation to put the Victims’ Code on a statutory footing, the EVAW said a key concern is the “glaring absence” of funding to deliver measures in the Bill.
“This was repeatedly recommended by the Justice Select Committee, who in scrutinising the draft Bill, warned that without further funding the Bill risks ‘raising victims’ awareness of their rights only to leave them unable to access them due to the relevant services already working at full capacity’,” it added.
“Recovery is an essential part of justice, and we need to ensure every survivor who needs support can access a service tailored to their needs.
“We are a long way from that being a reality. Building on the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s mapping report, the Government must urgently commit to sustainably funding specialist support services – particularly those led by and for black and minoritised women, which have long faced chronic underfunding despite the urgent need for the support they are best placed to provide.
“Despite these services being best placed to support marginalised women who are disproportionately victims of gender-based violence, they are chronically underfunded, meaning many are on the brink of collapse.”
The EVAW said the Bill also fails to take steps to address “inequalities in access to specialist support and justice for marginalised groups”, including black and minoritised women, migrant women, deaf and disabled women and LGBT+ survivors.
It added: “As highlighted once again in the recent Baroness Casey report, black, minoritised and migrant survivors are disproportionately victims of violence against women and girls, yet also experience poorer outcomes in access to justice and support.
“To address this, the Bill should introduce a firewall between the Home Office and policing, as called for by Step Up Migrant Women Campaign and supported by the Justice Select Committee in their pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill.
“Two years on from the Domestic Abuse Act, it is also high time that this Bill provided legislative reforms so that migrant survivors have equal protection from abuse.”
Despite a long list of priorities for the Bill from the VAWG sector, which the EVAW says “remain unfulfilled”, the Bill instead “delivers the Justice Secretary immense powers to intervene in the parole process”, it said.
“We’re concerned that this Bill is creeping away from its intended aim of improving victims’ experiences,” said the EVAW.
It welcomed legislation to put the Victims’ Code on a statutory footing, which has “the potential to improve victims and survivors’ experiences of the criminal justice system”.
“We also welcome measures that will place a duty on criminal justice bodies and non-territorial police forces to take reasonable steps to promote awareness of the Victims’ Code, as well as transparency and monitoring around this,” said the EVAW.
But it added that if the Bill is “truly going to centre victims and their needs”, it must provide independent legal advice for rape survivors and safeguards to protect them from excessive police requests for their medical history, therapy notes and other personal data.
Andrea Simon, director of the EVAW, said: “This Bill has the potential to improve victims and survivors’ experiences of the criminal justice system, at a time when women and girls’ confidence in justice agencies is at an all-time low and survivors are being routinely failed in the most appalling way.
“Recovery is an essential part of justice, and we need to ensure every survivor who needs help can access specialist support that is tailored to their needs.
“We are a long way from that being a reality and need to see the Government commit to sustainable funding of specialist services in the community – particularly those led by and for black and minoritised women.
“We also expect this Bill to guarantee independent legal advice to rape survivors and to put a stop to excessive, intrusive requests for survivors’ private therapy notes.
“There remains much to do to improve all victims and survivors’ experiences of justice and recovery, especially the most marginalised. The Government needs to keep victims’ rights at the heart of this Bill, instead of pursuing the Refugee Ban Bill and so-called Bill of Rights, which significantly undermine the spirit of a Victims Bill.”
Isabelle Younane, head of external affairs at Women’s Aid, said the new Victims and Prisoners Bill could be an opportunity to place victims “at the heart of the justice system”.
“However, we are concerned that it does not go far enough to lead to meaningful change for survivors of domestic abuse,” she said.
“Our members have already told us how the current cost of living crisis is threatening the survival of their services, and the lack of any recognition of the need to prioritise specialist support for victims in this Bill, will only put them at greater risk.”
“Women’s Aid’s recent report shows that every pound invested in domestic abuse support services represents a £9 saving to the public purse – demonstrating a clear economic case for commissioning specialist local services, on top of the immense benefits of these services having the knowledge and expertise to properly support survivors.”
Ms Younane added: “This Bill fails to recognise that the role of the Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA), while hugely important, is just one type of victim support. Survivors desperately need access to a range of options – including holistic support and intersectional advocacy from organisations led ‘by and for’ black and minoritised women, deaf and disabled women, and LGBT+ victims, which are already chronically underfunded.
“VAWG is an urgent public priority and it is vital that we see the changes in this legislation that survivors and our members have told us they need.”
Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs said: “The Victim’s Bill and Prisoners Bill has been long awaited by very many impacted by crime, including domestic abuse and sexual assault and those working to support them, so today’s introduction of the legislation is welcome.
“I had hoped the Victims Bill would transform and even revolutionise the response to victims but in its current form it’s disappointingly far from the big picture promises we want to see.
“This Bill needs to go much further by ensuring there is access to support and services for all victims as well as a coordinated approach and sustainable funding for specialist domestic abuse and ‘by and for’ services.
“Victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence deserve to be supported at every stage of the criminal justice system, not after things have gone wrong. This means investing early on, so victims get the support they need from the outset which includes funding a wide array of community based services as well as IDVAs.
“I am concerned that the new elements of this Bill around prisoners and probation may detract attention from the key challenges and issues that victims face. These additions will need to be fully scrutinised so we can understand the impact they will have on survivors.
“I will work hard with government and other organisations including the Children’s Commissioner’s Office and domestic abuse charities to make this legislation more robust for victims. until they are able to get the justice they need and deserve.”