Working with victims of domestic abuse
Platform 51 and work with a Roma victim of domestic abuse who bravely reported despite threats to her child.
Platform 51 works across the country to support women in a range of difficult situations. They may have been involved in crime in the past, be facing drugs or alcohol issues or be victims of trafficking or domestic and sexual abuse.
Cezara Nanu heads up the Platform 51 centre in Bristol. She and her colleagues told Jane Gibney at a recent meeting about some of the issues faced by women using the services of the centre. These services include facilitating regular groups for Somalian women where the once taboo subject of domestic violence can be aired and perhaps ultimately challenged at last.
She also told Jane about a Bristol based case involving a Roma victim of abuse: "One case we have helped with involved a young Roma woman who had been regularly exploited and beaten not only by her partner but by his family. She had been given in marriage at the age of 13. She was being forced to go door to door pretending to collect money for charity. Unless she came back home at the end of the day with a certain amount of money, she would not be let in or fed. Her child was being 'looked after' by the extended 'in-law' family during the day and she lived in fear that any attempt to run away or protest would result in consequences for her child. She was also told that any disobedience would mean that she would be cursed by her mother in law who claimed to have witchcraft powers. It may seem strange to us that the victim could believe in witchcraft, but with prolonged psychological abuse our deepest fears can be preyed upon easily.
"On one occasion she was beaten very badly by her partner. She was found on the streets and taken to hospital where some of her story emerged. The police were really good with her especially when it came to her child. As soon as the family realised she was going to report her child 'disappeared' from the family home. Local police worked so hard with other police forces to find him. He had been taken to another part of the extended family in Manchester. But mother and child were reunited!
"The girl lives an isolated life now. She has been moved to another part of Bristol and theres always a risk that her loneliness and difference will tempt her to make contact with her extended family. We aim to befriend and counsel her to help keep her free."
SEEDS empowering women victims to work with us to develop services
On 6 February SEEDS (Survivors Empowering and Educating Domestic Abuse Services) in North Somerset published their research on women victims views of voluntary, statutory and criminal justice sector services.
On 27 February, they held a conference in Weston super Mare to allow a wide range of victims of domestic abuse to feed back to agency representatives in person.
Jane Gibney and Lesley Ness represented the CPS and joined partners from the Courts, Police, Witness Service and Witness Liaison to hear feedback and answer questions in a series of three focus groups. The event culminated in each agency addressing the conference in the prestigious Winter Gardens Ballroom!
There was some very positive feedback about victims experience of the CPS as well as feedback that our decision to drop or change charges had in some cases not been very well explained.
We may have some more work to do in explaining our decisions more fully not only to victims but to police partners!
Bristol and Avon Chinese Women's Group supporting victims of domestic violence
On 5 February 2012, Jane Gibney met with the Bristol and Avon Chinese Women's Group. The organisation, based in St Pauls Bristol runs an advice surgery, which provides direct help or referrals to specialist agencies on a wide range of issues, such as Domestic Violence, Anti-Social Behaviour, Housing, Education Health and Asylum Seeking. The Group also runs a Carers Respite Break Service.
Jane reported back: "The founder of the group shared some of the particular barriers to justice and safety that women and families in the local Chinese community face when it comes to domestic violence. As with many cultures, reporting abuse to friends or relatives in the wider community, let alone to the police is almost unthinkable and brings a great deal of shame and the threat of being disowned by the community. Going ahead with a prosecution can be seen as a shaming process and there are practical barriers in terms of language and housing issues should someone flee the home.
"Things are beginning to change. One woman, with the help of the Group was able to escape a particularly violent marriage that she had endured for many years. Finally, she was so badly injured that after a long hospital stay, she and her daughter, with the support of the Group, reported the years of abuse and the woman found a new home."
Violence Against Women (And Girls)
In November 2011, and particularly in the last week of the month, many agencies and local authorities raised awareness of Violence Against Women issues with a focus on Domestic Violence.
In Bristol, Lesley Ness spoke at the Bristol Council led Gendered Violence conference. This three day event examined a wide range of issues through workshops, discussions and presentations.
Lesley talked about the work of our Local Scrutiny Involvement Panels had done (formerly Hate Crime Scrutiny Panels) with community partners on reviewing domestic abuse cases. She also told delegates about our CPS national VAW report which was published to coincide with VAW awareness raising events.
Lesley commented: "everybody was very interested to hear about the CPS approach to Violence Against Women issues and our Local Scrutiny and Involvement Panels. They are interested in working with us in future. It was a fascinating event as we also heard from speakers from other countries and learned that the issues are international ones.. A number of interesting questions were raised and thankfully I was able to answer them. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction. Feedback for us would be to ensure that we explain our decisions as clearly as possible to victims and support groups"
In Gloucester, Jane Gibney attended the ISIS womens centre conference where VAW was just one of the issues discussed. At this event, the context of domestic or sexual abuse was in relation to its impact on vulnerable women offenders. Baroness Corston attended the event and spoke about the role all agencies can play in reducing re-offending amongst women offenders. Conditional Cautioning and community sentences which address the specific issues around womens behaviours and which offer treatment for historic abuse, for example, can dramatically reduce re-offending and drugs and alcohol dependency.
Engaging on Domestic Abuse issues in Bristol
On 2 August 2011, we met with police colleagues. a range of community members and partners to review the draft Violence Against Women Strategy produced by the Bristol Council. Consultation will be conducted over the coming months across the city on the strategy.
Understanding the role of women's refuges in breaking cycles of abuse
On 9 May 2011, Stroud Beresford Group, which provides refuge for women fleeing from domestic abuse, held a fundraising and awareness raising event near Stroud which was supported by local members of the community, Trustees and Friends of the Group as well as by a number of agency representatives, including Jane Gibney, who says
"We heard about the cuts may affect the future of refuges which offer such an important place of safety and recovery for both mothers and children. Women can rebuild their lives and their confidence, through the programmes of support and empowerment that are offered there, breaking the cycle of violence that can blight not only their lives, but those of their children. We heard success stories about women whod found freedom and fulfilment. It was very inspiring."
Engagement with advisers at a Women's Refuge in Gloucestershire
Voluntary groups working with victims are good sources of feedback for us and it is empowering for them to clearly understand our role and our policy on Domestic Violence crime.
Jane Gibney met with support staff at the refuge, an independent Womens Refuge, on 17 February 2011. She says: "It seems that recently there has been an increase in the number of women whose first language is not English coming to the refuge to escape violence. Often they are married to English partners but have children here. (Children stay at the refuge too). They need help with overcoming language barriers and have often suffered isolation because of the lack of a support network or understanding of the system here. Abusive partners can very much play upon this vulnerability"
Support workers also talked about the particular fears experienced by women victims from the some travelling communities. Running away to escape violence, reporting violence outside of the community or seeking a prosecution or injunction, for example, put them not only at risk of violence from former partners, but in some instances from the wider travelling community itself. This is because these actions can be seen to bring dishonour to the community. In other words, according to the support workers, they (and we) may need to think about Honour Based Violence risks when working with victims from this community.
