Stop Criminalising Survivors
Through our Stop Criminalising Survivors project, we are working with women with lived experience of domestic abuse and the criminal justice system to press for reforms in law and practice, to end the unjust criminalisation of victims of gender-based violence.
To access the ‘Stop Criminalising Survivors’ films and resources, please click here.
To read our latest parliamentary briefing on the Victims and Prisoners Bill, click here.
Project updates:
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On 20 July, the Lord Chancellor announced that the Government would adopt most of the recommendations in Clare Wade KC’s review of Domestic Homicide Sentencing. Click here to read our statement.
To read our recent briefing on making self-defence more accessible to victims of domestic abuse who use force against their abuser, click here. -
CWJ organised a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament on 5 July, in collaboration with the Tackling Double Disadvantage partnership and with the help of Kate Osamor MP, to raise awareness of the criminalisation of Black, minoritized and migrant victims of VAWG and reforms needed.
The Tackling Double Disadvantage partnership published a progress report on the same day – about the unequal treatment and outcomes experienced by Black, Asian, minoritised and migrant women in the criminal justice system more widely – download it here.
Click here to read a blog on the debate by CWJ intern, Iqra Ahmed
Click here for our briefing to MPs ahead of the debate
Click here for a copy of our joint letter to the Minister for Safeguarding and Minister for Prisons and Probation
Debate transcript
Live coverage -
The Victims and Prisoners Bill does not address the gaps in law and practice that can lead to the unjust criminalisation of victims of domestic abuse and other forms of VAWG and exploitation. This could be resolved by adding new statutory defences to the Bill and adding a requirement to the Victims’ Code to protect against victims’ unjust criminalisation.
Read our second reading briefing here and our submission to the Victims and Prisoners Bill Committee here.
Read the HOPE Campaign’s recent submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ Call for Evidence on the Victims and Prisoners’ Bill here.
About the Project
At least 57% of women in prison and under community supervision are victims of domestic abuse. The true figure is likely to be higher because of barriers to women disclosing abuse. Research by CWJ and others shows that, for many of these women, their offending or alleged offending results directly from their experience of abuse.
Our collaborative work with other expert organisations and individuals includes legal action, research, media engagement, communication with government, parliamentarians and practitioners, and a forthcoming training programme for criminal defence lawyers.
Our research and experience points to the need for a comprehensive legal, policy and practice framework to protect victims of VAWG from unjust criminalisation. New statutory defences are needed, to make self-defence and duress accessible to victims of domestic abuse who are accused of offending – giving them the same protection that is already available to trafficking victims and householders facing an intruder.
Improvements are also needed in the knowledge and understanding of all those working in the criminal justice system about the dynamics of domestic abuse, and how this should be taken into account where a victim is suspected of offending - including the police, lawyers, judges and court staff, and prison and probation practitioners.
This must include a focus on the distinct challenges faced by Black, Asian, minoritised and migrant women, as highlighted in our recent reports (below) and the Tackling Double Disadvantage action plan led by Hibiscus Initiatives.
Local whole system approaches to women in contact with the criminal justice system need to include a strategic focus on supporting suspects/defendants who are also victims of gender-based violence and preventing their needless criminalisation. Sustainable funding for women’s specialist services is essential to achieving this.
Read about the support gained in Parliament during the passage of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 for the introduction of new statutory defences for victims of domestic abuse who are accused of offending.
We will be pursuing these proposals again during the passage of the forthcoming Victims’ Bill.
Contact us to find out how you can support this.
Download our recent reports:
Making self-defence accessible to victims of domestic abuse who use force against their abuser: Learning from reforms in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, July 2023
This briefing contains summaries of papers by academic experts in Canada, New Zealand and Australia about attempts made in those jurisdictions to make self-defence more accessible to victims of domestic abuse who use force against their abuser, and the impact of reforms. We also provide contextual information about research in England and Wales on the effectiveness of existing defences, and proposed reforms.
No Safe Space: lessons for national policy and local practice from the West Midlands multi-agency response to women involved in offending or alleged offending who are victims of domestic abuse, July 2022
This qualitative research with women with lived experience and frontline practitioners examines the approach taken by statutory and non-statutory agencies in the West Midlands towards victims of domestic abuse who are accused of offending and draws out lessons for national policy and local practice throughout England and Wales.
Double Standard: ending the unjust criminalisation of victims of VAWG, March 2022
This report sets out evidence of the unjust criminalisation of victims of VAWG in England and Wales for alleged offending resulting from their experience of abuse, and the reforms in law and practice that are needed to address this. It includes new research, legal analysis and case studies, and draws out the wider learning from our ‘Women Who Kill’ report.
Women Who Kill: how the state criminalises women we might otherwise be burying, February 2021
This report is the culmination of a four-year research study that explores the criminal justice response to women who kill abusive men. Through in-depth interviews with key criminal justice practitioners, and most crucially with women themselves, our research explores the extent to which the law itself, and the way it is applied, prevents women accessing justice.