The current landscape
As Parliament returns after the summer recess and party conference season, we now await bills and laws to be brought forward by the government to act on their promise to tackle sexual violence and abuse and violence against women and girls.
We are currently experiencing an epidemic of violence against women and girls, with it now being treated as a “national emergency” by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC). The number of recorded offences of stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence has risen by 37% in the last 5 years and that 1 in 12 women will be subjected to sexual violence and abuse each year, which equates to 2 million women per year, with there being over 3,000 offences per day. The NPCC also acknowledges that the real figure may be higher as many individuals who are subjected to sexual violence and abuse will not report their experiences. Figures also showed that perpetrators are getting younger, with the fastest-growing group of domestic abuse offenders being those aged 16 to 19, which they fear may be partially down to radicalisation of boys and young men by influencers such as Andrew Tate. (1) (2)
Trust in the police and politicians to tackle violence against women and girls is also worryingly low, with YouGov polling showing that 25% of women saying that their trust in the police to tackle violence against women and girls had gone down in the last 12 months and that 53% of respondents believed the police have made not very much, or no progress at all in addressing sexism and misogyny in the last 12 months (from January 2024). (3) Furthermore, polling from the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) showed that 76% of people do not trust politicians generally to tackle violence against women and girls. (4)
The new government will not only have to introduce robust measures to tackle sexual violence and abuse and violence against women and girls, but also restore trust in the police to ensure that individuals subjected to sexual violence and abuse feel confident in reporting their experiences to the police.
What can we expect from the new government?
The headline news is that Labour pledged in their manifesto to “halve violence against women and girls in a decade”. The measures outlined in the manifesto to achieve this are:
Specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force
Use of tactics normally reserved for terrorism and organised crime to target the most prolific and harmful perpetrators
Fast-track rape cases with specialist courts at every Crown Court location in England and Wales
“Raneem’s Law” – introduce domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms so that victims can talk directly with a specialist
Ensure a legal advocate in every police force to advise victims from the moment of report to trial
Ensure schools address misogyny and teach young people about healthy relationships and consent
Ensure police forces have the powers to tackle the root causes of misogyny
Strengthen Stalking Protection Orders
Introduce a new criminal offence for spiking
Strengthen rights and protections to women in co-habiting couples, as well as for whistleblowers in the workplace, including on sexual harassment. (5)
Furthermore, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has gone on record saying that extreme misogyny will now be treated as a form of extremism by the government (6), with extreme misogyny being included in a review of the UK’s counter-extremism strategy. Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips also suggested that the review will ensure that teachers are given the proper guidance and tools to be able to tackle misogynistic attitudes in the classroom. (7) Cooper also stated in her 2024 Labour Party Conference Speech that the government will treat violence against women and girls as “national emergency it really is” and pledged new laws for online image abuse. (8)
So far, the only tangible measure that has been introduced is Raneem’s Law, which will see domestic abuse experts placed in 999 call centres. A trial scheme is expected to start in early 2025. (9)
While these measures have been welcomed by organisations, some questions have arisen about how these will be implemented and how they will lead to halving violence against women and girls.
The Guardian Editorial team called on Labour to explain how they plan to halve violence against women and girls, asking what Labour’s call for a “national effort” actually amounts to beyond a “belated acknowledgement” of the problem. (10) They also suggest that new risks, such as the use of deepfakes and AI, should be prioritised, as previous online safety laws “took too long to enact”.
The organisation Refuge welcomed the new measures that were announced by Labour, but wanted to see more detail on how these will be implemented. For example, for Raneem’s Law, they wanted to see how staff will be recruited, vetted and trained for the pilot scheme. (11) Furthermore, they highlighted how giving the police extra powers doesn’t necessarily mean that they will act on those powers. They mentioned how Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) had a very low uptake by police forces, only being obtained for an average of 1% of domestic abuse cases. They say that the focus should be on “quality and mandatory training for all officers” as well as “specialist training around the dynamics of domestic abuse”
EVAW also welcomed Labour’s pledges but are calling for a “whole society” approach to ending violence against women and girls that looks beyond the criminal justice system and addresses prevention, housing, health, education and more. They also want to see more action to centre those who face the greatest barriers to support and protection, especially migrants that have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse. (12)
Unfortunately, we have already seen a drastic failure from the government to protect individuals subjected to sexual violence and abuse. While inheriting a prison capacity crisis from the previous government, their plan to alleviate the crisis, the Early Release Scheme, has put individuals subjected to sexual violence and abuse at risk. The plan excluded offenders jailed for violent offences with sentences of at least 4 years as well as sex offenders and domestic abusers (13), but soon after reports emerged of a former inmate allegedly sexually assaulting a woman on the same day he was freed. (14) Women’s Aid released a statement responding to the Early Release Scheme, saying that while assurances were given that prisoners convicted of sexual and domestic abuse offences would not be released, they were hearing a number of reports from member services that many perpetrators had “slipped through the net”. (15)
How does this compare to the previous government’s strategy?
The 2019 Conservative manifesto only outlined a vague promise to “fight crime against women and girls” (16), but despite this, a raft of measures had been introduced between 2019 and 2024 that were welcomed by domestic/sexual violence and abuse organisations, including aspects of the Online Safety Act 2022, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and ”Jade’s Law”.
The Online Safety Act 2022 made cyber-flashing a criminal offence in England and Wales (it had already been an offence in Scotland since 2010), as well as new guidance to prosecute those who share unsolicited “deepfakes” and those who undertake the act of “downblousing” - taking downward facing photos of a woman’s top and chest without consent. (17)
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sought to promote awareness of domestic abuse by putting it “at the top of everyone’s agenda”, as well as protecting and supporting victims and holding perpetrators to account with a raft of measures including:
Introducing the office of “Domestic Abuse Commissioner”, as well as Domestic Abuse and Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DAPOs and DVPOs)
Extending the controlling and coercive behaviour offence to cover post separation abuse Extending the offence of disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress to cover threats to disclose such material
Creating a new offence of non-fatal strangulation or suffocation of another person
Clarifying by restating in statute the general position that a person may not consent to the infliction of serious harm and, by extension, is unable to consent to their own death
Transforming the justice response by helping victims to give their best evidence in the criminal courts through the use of video evidence, screens and other special measures, and ensuring that victims of abuse do not suffer further trauma in family court proceedings by being cross-examined by the perpetrator
Improving performance by driving consistency and better performance in the response to domestic abuse including by putting the guidance for the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS) on a statutory footing and providing for a statutory code of practice relating to the processing of domestic abuse data for immigration purposes. (18)
“Jade’s Law”, or the Victims and Prisoners Bill, was one of the last bills passed by the previous government and will ensure that parents who kill someone they have children with will have parental rights suspended on sentencing. (19)
It was also announced that controlling and coercive behaviour will be put on par with physical violence, with offenders that are sentenced for more than one year for controlling and coercive behaviour being recorded on the Violent and Sex Offenders register, as well as fitting abusers with tags and preventing them from going near the homes of those that they have subjected to sexual violence and abuse. (20)
These measures were welcomed by organisations such as Women’s Aid and Refuge, particularly the announcement that coercive control will be treated as on par with physical violence as well as Jade’s Law, but felt that “more needed to be done to fully ensure the safety of women”. (21)
As mentioned previously, Refuge found that DVPOs had a very low uptake by police forces, only being obtained for an average of 1% of domestic abuse cases.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, then interim CEO of Refuge Ellen Miller said that “a willingness to acknowledge the seriousness of these crimes is promising but little has been done to restore women’s faith in the police and judicial system” adding “If women are to have the confidence to report abuse, they need to know that police forces take allegations of violence against women and girls seriously”. Then Head of External Affairs at Women’s Aid added “conviction rates for crimes against women and girls still remain woefully low. If we want to see a real, tangible impact, we need to take a whole-system approach to domestic abuse. What is a national threat, must truly be seen and addressed as a national priority.” (21)
Addressing the Online Safety Act, Deputy Director of EVAW Deniz Uğur expressed concerns about how effective the law could really be, telling Cosmopolitan “much will depend on how new guidance is developed to hold tech companies accountable for preventing the abuse that they currently profit from,” and that “its success will also depend on the prioritisation and investment in prevention work in schools, including quality relationships and sex education, and wider prevention work across society. (21)
Conclusion
The overall strategy of the new Labour government has taken a step in the right direction to tackle sexual violence and abuse, with a pledge to halve violence against women and girls in a decade and a raft of pledges to achieve this outlined in their manifesto, which is a stark contrast to the vague promise in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.
The measures announced by Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper show a welcome commitment to tackling sexual violence and abuse, but issues with the implementation of these measures that have been highlighted, as well as the side effects from other policy decisions such as the Early Release Scheme, shows we are still a long way from any concrete progress.
Furthermore, most of the measures announced are to give the police extra powers to tackle sexual violence and abuse, but we have seen in the past that simply giving the police extra powers does not necessarily mean that they will act on said powers, as well as the fact that trust in the police to tackle sexual violence and abuse is decreasing, meaning that these measures will be even less effective if individuals subjected to sexual violence and abuse are not confident that the police will act on those powers if they were to report their experiences.
The measures also have little mention on how they will hold tech companies to account for harmful content that is shared on their platforms. With Keir Starmer suggesting he will review social media laws in response to the far-right riots, there also needs to be a focus on content that is harmful to women and girls.
-D. O'Neal
Sources:
7. 1:47 – 4:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk98MLBkiVA&ab_channel=LBC
8. https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/yvette-cooper-speech-at-labour-party-conference-2024/
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