Every day I hear from domestic abuse survivors about their experiences in the family courts. Far too often survivors and their children have been let down and retraumatised through the process and it is one of my utmost priorities to change this. The stakes in these cases could not be higher. The family justice system …
Improving the Family Court response to domestic abuse Read More »
In response to the Office of National Statistics latest figures on domestic abuse, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, said: “Domestic abuse recorded by the police remains at near record volumes across England and Wales. Last year the numbers recorded by police were up 79,000 (6 per cent). “During the national lockdowns, we heard of …
CPS charging rates fell for the third year, ONS statistics show Read More »
LGBT+ domestic abuse victims are being let down by a lack of specialist support, new report finds There is a huge lack of specialist support for LGBT+ victims of domestic abuse across England and Wales Out of 803 full time frontline domestic abuse support workers (known as IDVAs) there are only 3.5 that are LGBT+ …
Huge lack of specialist support for LGBT+ victims Read More »
In response to the latest CPS statistics released today, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, said: “I am deeply concerned to see that fewer perpetrators of domestic abuse are being held accountable for their actions, with the number of convictions for these offences falling by almost 15% in the last year. The past year has …
Commissioner responds to latest CPS statistics on domestic abuse Read More »
Report recognises “Immigration abuse” for the first time as being used by abusers as a form of coercion and control The risk that police pass information to immigration enforcement means that migrant victims fear reporting abuse, allowing dangerous offenders to escape justice. One survivor said: “I could barely tolerate the abuse, but couldn’t dare going to …
Responding to the findings of the HMICFRS report which calls for violence against women and girls to be treated with the same priority as terrorism, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, said now was the time to take action. In its report commissioned by the Home Secretary, HMICFRS recommended a series of improvements that the …
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, has issued a response to the government’s Violence and Women and Girls Strategy which was published today: “The urgent need to tackle the epidemic scale of violence against women and girls has never been more pressing. In the wake of the murders of Sarah Everard, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa …
The Domestic Abuse Commissioner is calling for urgent long-term funding and more dedicated specialist court support after a new report revealed that 89 per cent of domestic abuse survivors don’t get any support when they go through the family courts. The report also found that 71 per cent of domestic abuse survivors don’t get any …
“The family and criminal court system retraumatises victims”, according to a new report Read More »
The Government has apologised to rape victims for low conviction rates today as it published its long-awaited end-to-end rape review. It has outlined plans to overhaul the criminal justice system’s response to rape and sexual violence. It has promised to return prosecution rates to 2016 levels which I believe should be “our absolute minimum level …
The first lockdown was downright dangerous for domestic abuse victims – male and female. I am genuinely afraid that this lockdown could be even more deadly. The risk has only gone up dramatically: dark nights, short days and many people’s mental health and resilience are already at rock bottom. It’s the perfect storm for victims …
