In this newsletter you will find a roundup of what we have been working on over the last couple of months but we would also like to welcome our new finance officer, Jemima, to the team. We are delighted to be welcoming several other new colleagues over the next month or so including a new lawyer, a personal assistant/office administrator and a communications assistant. We look forward to working with you all!
The CWJ team
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Inquest into the death of Raneem Oudeh and Khoala Saleem
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The inquest into the double homicide in Solihull four years ago finally commenced on 31 October at Birmingham coroners court, four years after the murders. Raneem was subjected to escalating violence by her estranged husband Janbaz Tarin. She eventually escaped his violence and obtained a non-molestation order but after this was served on him, he stalked and attacked Raneem and her mother Khoala when she attempted to intervene. Both were brutally stabbed to death outside the family home. The Article 2 Inquest will explore failures by police, social services, probation and others that may have more than minimally contributed to the horrific murders. Centre for Women’s Justice have supported the family from the outset and inputted into preparation of the legal case. Southall Black Sisters have now joined the campaign for justice for the family and to highlight the issue of honour based violence.
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Woman launches case against the CPS over claims she had Sexsomnia
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CWJ is acting for Jade Blue in her legal challenge against the CPS after they dropped her rape case at the last minute on the flimsy basis that the defendant asserted she was suffering from sexsomnia and had consented to sex in her sleep.
Jade has courageously spoken out about her experience to help campaign for justice for rape victims.
A BBC documentary covering Jade’s case was aired in early October and is available to watch here:
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Daisy's Law and the Draft Victims Bill
The Justice Committee has published a report on its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Government’s draft Victims Bill, recommending that children born of rape should be recognised as secondary victims and included in the Victims’ Code. This proposal features amongst several other welcome recommendations from the committee to strengthen the Bill and improve end-to-end support for victims of crime.
In support of Daisy’s campaign for this reform, CWJ have published a policy briefing urging the Government to support ‘Daisy’s Law’ a reform which would recognise children born as a result of rape, legally, as victims of crime, and entitle them to specialist care and support. The briefing is supported by an evidence review commissioned by Centre for Women’s Justice detailing research available on the impacts and harms suffered by children born as a result of rape which often continues into later life.
On 1st November, we held a Parliamentary event to invite MPs to show their support for Daisy’s Law. We were joined by Jess Phillips MP, Sarah Champion MP, Anna McMorrin MP and many others.
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CWJ has joined with Rape Crisis England and Wales and End Violence Against Women Coalition, to call for a change in the law to keep counselling notes confidential. Counselling should be a private and safe space for healing but this is being compromised by routine requests from the police and prosecutors for survivors’ counselling notes.
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‘Kay’s Law’ comes into force
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Kay's Law aims to provide better protection for victims under pre-charge bail reforms. The reforms come under the Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act and will mean that the police have a duty to take into account the views of victims before releasing someone on bail. Police will be encouraged to use pre-charge bail instead of releasing suspects under investigation, where it is necessary and proportionate.
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Martyna Ogonowska: Double Victims of a Misogynistic Justice System
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We will be joining Justice for Women on Wednesday 9th November at 9.30am outside the Royal Courts of Justice, to support the appeal of sentence and renewed application of appeal of conviction of Martyna Ogonowska.
Martyna Ogonowska was convicted of the murder of Filip Jaskiewicz on 21 October 2018. She was just 18 at the time of the offence. Following a night out with friends, Martyna stabbed Jaskiewicz once to the chest whilst he violently and sexually assaulted her. She had previously been raped by an older man when aged only 14 and had developed severe post-traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of this rape.This previous rape incident became the central focus of the murder trial. The defence psychiatrist in the murder case found that Martyna was suffering from severe PTSD caused by the rape in 2015 which would have impacted on her reaction to the further sexual assault by the deceased. However, the prosecution psychiatrist disputed that she had anything other than mild PTSD. During his evidence in Court, the Prosecution psychiatrist went beyond his report and referred to Martyna’s account of rape and sexual assault at 14 years old as a false complaint. Recently the prosecution psychiatrist has been subject to judicial criticism and investigated. Despite this the prosecution will not concede that his evidence is problematic.
Rape myths have no place in court. Please join us on Weds to show your support.
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Joint Centre for Women’s Justice and Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize Awards – 2nd December
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This year we will be hosting our annual awards at the London Canal Museum with fantastic food and entertainment, as well as the main event: awarding this year's winners and celebrating and recognising the incredible work of all our shortlisted nominees who have going above and beyond to highlight and challenge issues relating to male violence against women and girls.
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CWJ Submission to the Home Affairs Committee Inquiry into Policing Priorities
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We have recently submitted evidence for the inquiry into policing priorities which can be read in full below.
The submission addresses:
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Evidence of the implementation gap
We set out a range of examples of how in many areas policing does not come close to providing an adequate response to VAWG in practice.
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Chronic underfunding of policing resources dealing withV AWG
We discuss the link between the inadequacies seen in the response to VAWG and priorities in resourcing.
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Lack of specialism and training on VAWG offending and legal measures
We argue for specialist police units for domestic abuse and for sexual offences, without which many of the laws, policies and procedures introduced to tackle VAWG are simply not used in day-to-day policing.
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Link between attrition rates and inadequacies in the criminal justice system
We show how extremely high attrition rates in VAWG cases are not merely the result of choices by victims and survivors, but a direct response to the failings in the criminal justice system.
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Failure to deal with abusers within the police
We stress the importance of dealing robustly with police officer abusers, in order to secure public confidence and cultural change within forces. Attitudes that tolerate abusers remaining in their roles are linked to broader minimising and lack of understanding around VAWG offending.
The inquiry is accepting evidence submissions until 15th November
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Anti-Strangulation Institute
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CWJ was at the heart of the successful campaign to create a new stand-alone criminal offence of ’non-fatal strangulation’ as part of the Domestic Abuse Act. Since the Act was passed the coalition of organisations who campaigned for this have worked together to try to improve the impact of the new law. We are delighted to announce that funding has been secured to set up a new Institute for Addressing Strangulation which will focus on training of professionals on non-fatal strangulation in the context of domestic abuse and sexual violence, and research into implementation of the offence. CWJ has an advisory role with the new Institute, which will be headed by Dr Cath White, former clinical director of the Sexual Assault Referral Centre at St Mary’s Hospital Manchester. An official launch will follow in the New Year.
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Launch of the International Feminist Legal Network (IFLN)
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The IFLN aims to create a sustainable international feminist legal network of lawyers and legally focussed NGOs (doing strategic legal work and other policy impact work) on male psychological violence against women. The network will allow experts to share learning with each other and with decision makers in their own jurisdictions, contributing towards improvements in law and practice to tackle psychological violence to women and girls, and its harmful impacts.
For more information on the IFLN and to watch the inaugural webinar:
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Gaia Pope: The Gaia principle
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Following the Inquest into the death of Gaia Pope, her family campaign, ‘Justice for Gaia’ have launched a manifesto calling for a range of changes including the introduction of the ‘Gaia principle' to be implemented in all police forces. This would mean that where an allegation of rape or serious sexual assault is reported to the police, officers are required to check for similar allegations against the suspect. Where there are multiple allegations, they must be thoroughly investigated, and all the evidence should be presented as a whole to the CPS. A failure to do so would be a police misconduct matter.
In a press conference CWJ’s director Harriet Wistrich, said that "the Gaia Principle had to have an element of compunction...recent promises from the police to ensure suspect’s backgrounds were investigated and all reports considered were welcome but repeated failures to implement this obvious step in the investigation of any sexual offender must require some enforcement. Investigating officers should be held to account for such investigative failures as a matter of course."
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Coming Soon: New legal signposting resources
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We have been working on a new area of our website to help streamline the many legal enquiries from individuals and front-line women's sector organisations we receive. The new advice hub will go live next Monday and will hold a wealth of information on the common questions we are asked as well as how to access funding and how find a solicitor to assist in a case.
If you have any feedback on this hub, please do let us know.
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No Safe Space report: Lessons for National Policy and Local Practice
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CWJ have released a new report on the West Midlands multi-agency response to women involved in offending who are victims of domestic abuse.
In this new report, CWJ offers insights from women with lived experience and frontline practitioners in an examination of the approach taken by local agencies in the West Midlands in relation to victims of domestic abuse who are accused of offending, and draws out lessons for national policy and local practice throughout England and Wales.
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Baroness Casey Interim Report
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Baroness Casey released her interim report in October into misconduct by met police officers. The report is a damning indictment of the Met police and Baroness Casey’s findings in relation to misogyny and sexual misconduct echo what we have seen in the police super-complaint we submitted two and a half years ago. The problem identified in Louise Casey’s report is not just a Met police problem but common to many police forces across England and Wales. However, from the cases we have seen misogyny and racism are endemic within Met.
Read the interim report
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The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse publishes its concluding report
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The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published its concluding report following 15 investigation strands exploring historic institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
Some of the key findings from the report include:
- Historically, inadequate measures were in place to protect children from the risk of being sexually abused – sometimes there were none at all;
- Individuals and institutions often thought children were lying when they tried to disclose what was being done to them;
- Victims were frequently blamed as being responsible for their own sexual abuse;
- There is still not enough support available to both child and adult victims and survivors;
- The devastation and harm caused by sexual abuse cannot be overstated – the impact of child sexual abuse, often lifelong, is such that everyone should do all they can to protect children.
The Inquiry has set out a number of recommendations, including three key recommendations:
- The introduction of a statutory requirement of mandatory reportingwhich would require individuals in certain employments (paid or voluntary) and professions to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the relevant authorities. Failure to do so in some circumstances could lead to the commission of a new criminal offence of failure to report an allegation of child sexual abuse when required to do so.
- The establishment of a national redress scheme for England and for Wales, to provide some monetary redress for child sexual abuse for those who have been let down by institutions in the past.
- The creation of a Child Protection Authority (CPA) in England and in Wales with powers to inspect any institution associated with children.
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The National Police Chiefs Council and College of Policing's review on police-perpetrated violence against women and girls
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At the end of 2021, police forces were required to conduct an urgent review of all open cases, ensuring that they were investigated fully and thoroughly. They were then asked to share their learning on themes, problems and good practice over subsequent months. Which helped to identify national themes, understand the extent of the challenge in tackling VAWG misconduct and recommend appropriate action in response.
Some of the key findings from the report include:
- Victims of police-perpetrated VAWG (in this case police officers who are victims) require bespoke support services to address their specific needs.
- Police forces must continue to encourage police officers and staff, members of the public and partners to report concerns about police-perpetrated VAWG or any other inappropriate or discriminatory behaviour.
- Investigators working on parallel criminal and misconduct investigations need to work together and share information effectively.
- Some misconduct investigations may be unnecessarily delayed because forces do not accurately assess the potential for disciplinary action to prejudice criminal proceedings.
- Data collected locally about police misconduct is not recorded in a detailed and consistent manner, making it more difficult to provide accurate and timely insight into police-perpetrated VAWG.
- Inviting external scrutiny of case handling may improve trust and confidence, support a learning culture and ensure appropriate decision-making
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The Big Give Christmas Campaign
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We will be launching our match funding campaign at 12noon 29th November. For seven days, any donation we receive will be matched by the Big Give so all donations will have twice the impact. We know that this year it is going to be even harder than usual to meet our target. The cost of living increase in particular has meant a drop in charitable giving across the sector but however much or little, we receive during campaign week will be doubled so we really hope to get some support.
If you think you might be able to help with fundraising such as holding an event in you local community or workplace, please do get in touch below. We can't do this without our supporters!
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Azra Kemal Legal Internship Programme:
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Applications are now being accepted for The Azra Kemal Legal Internship Programme for Black, Asian and minoritised women. The successful applicant will get to work alongside our talented lawyers for a 6 month paid placement. This is an amazing opportunity to kickstart a career in the legal profession.
Applications close on 20th November
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