Whilst the past year has been incredibly hard and challenging for so many people, in particular for women and children living in households with abusive men as well as those made homeless as a consequence of abuse, we would like to reflect on some key events and celebrate some positive outcomes from the work of CWJ and our wider network over the past year.
January
February
March
April/May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
And…
QSA Court of Appeal – confirmed that women who brought the claim would no longer have to disclose their criminal convictions for soliciting and loitering.
Emily Hunt won her historic victory to clarify the law on voyeurism when the CPS conceded the judicial review she brought of their decision not to prosecute a man who had filmed her naked without her consent.
CWJ have succeeded in their judicial review challenge brought by two claimants, funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, of a policy introduced by the CPS, National Police Chiefs Council and College of policing relating to the handing over of digital data to the police by victims of crime.
CWJ submitted our police super-complaint highlighting systemic failures in relation to the reporting and investigation of police perpetrated domestic abuse.
CWJ representing End Violence Against Women coalition apply to the High Court for permission to challenge the Director of Public Prosecutions in relation to a change in policy and/or approach to the prosecution of rape which has led to dramatic falls in the volume of rapes prosected. Over £90,000 raised for the crowd justice campaign to support the challenge. Unfortunately at the hearing the judges refused to grant permission to proceed. We lodged an appeal of this decision.
CWJ started working closely with a coalition of women’s sector organisations to tackle the impact of Covid 19 and also to jointly lobby for amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill which returned to parliament. CWJ called for a new free-standing offence of non-fatal strangulation.
The Information Commissioner released their long awaited report on police forces’ approach to digital downloads, echoing our challenge to the unlawful approach taken.
CWJ and EVAW released evidence produced for our legal challenge of the DPP demonstrating the failures of the CPS in relation to the prosecution of rape.
Following submissions by CWJ and others (on behalf of former and current House of Commons staff members) Members of Parliament finally voted in favour of changes to Commons rules to enable an independent expert panel to decide on the appropriate sanctions for MPs found guilty of bullying, harassment or sexual harassment.
The Court of Appeal adds its voice to that of the ICO, criticising the National Police Chiefs' Council's digital data disclosure forms and the criminal justice system's disproportionate approach to rape victims' private information (in the case known as Bater-James & Mohammed v R).
The National Police Chiefs Council withdrew their controversial digital data disclosure forms responsible for disproportionate and excessive requests for data from women who report rape. CWJ were able to secure this urgent access and input into an amended version as a consequence of the legal action we launched the previous year.
30 July Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the High Court from March and granted permission for our claim on behalf of EVAW challenging the policy of the DPP which has led to the massive decline in the volume or rape cases prosecuted.
Christopher Killick pleaded guilty to the offence of voyeurism in relation to Emily Hunt.
EVAW published a joint report on behalf of CWJ, Imkaan, Rape Crisis and Rights of Women on access to justice for women and girls during the Covid 19 pandemic.
CWJ’s legal action against the NPCC and CPS was settled in our favour as the NPCC issued new digital data consent forms requiring only proportionate and necessary downloads when women report rape.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse hearing on child sexual exploitation by organised networks took place with CWJ as a key Core Participant seeking to ensure the voice of the survivor and of BME specialist women’s sector are heard.
CWJ host the joint Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize awards, remotely. The CWJ prize was awarded jointly to Emily Hunt for her ground-breaking legal challenge (see above) and ‘Freya’ for speaking out about her case of police perpetrated domestic abuse and helping to initiate CWJ’s super complaint
The first public hearings of the undercover policing inquiry took place over five years after it was first announced. Opening statements are made on behalf of all the women who were deceived into sexual relationships
The annual Femicide census was published marking the tenth anniversary of recording and documenting the deaths of women at the hands of violent men.
CWJ, EVAW, Rape Crisis and Imkaan launched in parliament our joint report on the Decriminalisation of Rape: why the justice system is failing rape survivors and what needs to change.
Fri Martin won her appeal against murder conviction, a retrial is ordered.
Our Big Give Christmas fundraiser on Stop Penalising survivors of sexual exploitation hits its £10,000 target.
CWJ secured funding to develop a new project on challenging the criminalisation of victims/survivors of domestic abuse. This will include taking forward the Prison Reform Trust proposals on creating new statutory defences
CWJ also contributed to a number of consultations including on pre-charge bail, the use of non-disclosure agreements, disclosure in criminal proceedings, justice committee inquiry into the use of private prosecutions, Home Office Statutory Guidance for the Domestic Abuse Bill and for Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, pre-trial therapy in rape cases, reforms to parole board hearings…
Dealt with 771 legal enquiries, trained 15 women’s sector organisations and ran a series of 10 webinars for lawyers.
Produced guidance for women’s sector organisations on Victim’s Rights to Review, police complaints and defamation.
We also spoke at a series of virtual events locally nationally and internationally on a range of issues.
We coordinated a Femicide Working Group and working with Nicole Jacobs the Domestic Abuse Commissioner on creating a new oversight mechanism in femicide cases.
Coming up…
Some important events, cases and projects coming up in the New year include
Domestic Abuse Bill back in House of Lords on 5 January, we will be pushing hard on our two specific amendments on non-fatal strangulation and statutory defence for women who are victims and survivors driven to offend.
QSA challenge on the ‘100 year rule’ in the High Court on 19 and 20 January
26 and 27 January: Our challenge on behalf of EVAW of the DPP’s responsibility for the falling volume of rape prosecutions
Women who Kill research: Our long awaited report on women who kill to be published in early February.
Finally
A huge thank you to all our supporters, funders and volunteers who have helped us achieve so much this year.