13th April 2015

APPG Inquiry into Women's Access to Justice

In March 2014 the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Domestic and Sexual Violence released a report revealing that the criminal justice system continues to fail women when they experience domestic violence. The report concluded the APPG’s Inquiry into women survivors’ access to justice, which received both written and oral evidence from 90 organisations and nearly 50 survivors of domestic violence.

You can access the full report on Women's Aid website, or you can download it from the DVCN Resources section under VAWG Issues.

The report revealed:

• Many women experiencing domestic violence, including sexual violence in intimate partner relationships, do not have access to justice;

• The criminal justice system frequently fails to hold perpetrators of domestic violence to account. When sanctions are imposed they are often so limited and the violence so pervasive that perpetrators are able to continue abusing their victims;

• 89% of respondents to the APPG Inquiry felt there were barriers to women disclosing domestic violence to the police and/or other criminal justice agencies; 

• Where criminal justice agencies fail to respond appropriately to domestic and sexual violence, women pay with their lives.

The report recommendations include:

1. Data collection: Members of the group found the government is failing to collect vital statistics relating to domestic violence. The government should review its data collection procedures as a first step to building a greater understanding of domestic violence.

2. Training and awareness: All front line police officers and justice officials should receive domestic violence awareness training to ensure a change of culture in the way victims, particularly women, are treated.

3. Closing legislative loopholes: Government should review the current legislation around domestic violence to close legislative gaps, such as giving consideration to criminalising coercive control and patterns of abusive behaviour.

4. Effective prosecutions: Law enforcement agencies should move away from evidence solely based on victim testimony. The police should begin to build a case against a perpetrator the moment they walk through the door.

5. Victim-centred approach: Government should work to break down barriers to justice, increase information and communication with survivors about their case, invest in court facilities and technology.