Women's Views on News |
- Refuge public inquiry
- New victim support for children and young people
- Women underrepresented in the 2014 Press Awards
| Posted: 26 Feb 2015 06:30 AM PST
The national domestic violence charity Refuge, together with families of women killed by current and former partners, are calling on the government to open a public inquiry to investigate why victims of domestic violence are still not getting the protection they deserve from the police and other state agencies. Two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner. Domestic violence accounts for 16-25 per cent of all violent crime and has the highest rate of repeat victimisation of any crime. Domestic violence is a national problem; it requires a national response. And each death leaves behind devastated relatives and friends. Maria Stubbings was murdered by her former partner, Marc Chivers – a man already known to the police for killing a previous girlfriend – in December 2008. In the days leading up to her death, Maria called the police to ask for help, but none came. When the police attended the house, they took Chivers at his word when he told them she had gone on holiday. By the time they carried out a thorough search of the house on 19 December, Maria was already dead. The IPCC found that Essex Police made a catalogue of failures in their response to her. Rachael Slack and her two-year-old son Auden were killed by Rachael's ex partner Andrew Cairns in June 2010, after Rachael had reported Cairns to the police for stalking and threatening to kill her. Derbyshire Police failed to tell Rachael that she and Auden were at high risk of serious harm or homicide from Cairns. An inquest found that police failures contributed to Rachael and Andrew's deaths. Sabina Akhtar was stabbed to death by her husband in September 2008, two months after she told the police he had assaulted her and threatened to kill her. Malik Mannan had been arrested less than a month before her death for assault, but the CPS released him without charging him. Social services had received three separate referrals relating to Sabina and her two-year-old son – but closed the case without even doing an initial risk assessment. An inquest found that serious failings had been made by Greater Manchester Police, Manchester Social Services and the Crown Prosecution Service which may possibly have contributed to Sabina's death. Cassie Hasanovic was killed by her estranged husband in front of her two young children as she attempted to flee to a refuge. An inquest into her death found that Kent Police had failed to arrest Hajrudin Hasanovic for breaching his bail conditions, and that the CPS did not take a number of steps to safeguard Cassie's life, including failing to apply for Hajrudin's bail to be withdrawn and failing to inform Cassie of the special measures that might have been available to assist her in giving evidence against him. The inquest also found that Sussex Police officers were inadequately trained in domestic violence. Numerous investigations into the handling of domestic violence have shown recurring failings across the country. There is an urgent need for a public inquiry to investigate why these failures keep happening. Individual reports put the spotlight on individual police forces and local agencies – but no-one is looking at the national picture. Refuge supports a number of families who have lost loved ones to domestic violence, and many women using Refuges services say that they feel completely let down by the police, and other state agencies. A public inquiry will make links between different cases and help improve the state response to domestic violence across the country. Refuge, along with families who have lost loved ones to domestic violence, are determined to create real change – for Maria, Rachael, Sabina, Cassie and countless other women. Please add your voice to this campaign. To find out more about the campaign for a public inquiry, click here.  |
| New victim support for children and young people Posted: 26 Feb 2015 04:19 AM PST
In response to widespread concern that children and young people in England and Wales are confused and intimidated by the criminal justice system, Victim Support has launched a website designed specifically to tackle these issues. Victim Support is an independent charity for victims and witnesses of crime in England and Wales set up 40 years ago to support all witnesses through the court process. Its services are free and available to everyone, whether or not the crime has been reported and regardless of when it happened. But research has shown that some under-18s may not realise they have been the victim of a crime, do not want to go to the police and are scared to testify in court. Worryingly, many even see violent crime, such as sexual abuse, mugging and rape, as a normal part of growing up. So the new website ‘You & Co’ looks at different types of crime, how children and young people can feel after becoming a crime victim and what they can do if they want to get some support – with or without going to the police. Children have also said their fears about testifying in court are increased by not knowing what to expect, so the website has information about going to court and includes an interactive courtroom that illustrates what a Crown court and magistrates' court looks like. There are hotspots in each room to answer questions a young witness may have, such as what you can take with you, where you will be standing in the courtroom and who does what. It is also possible to change how the court will look if the young person has been granted permission from the judge/magistrate to give evidence from behind a screen, by live link away from the courtroom or if they need an interpreter or intermediary to support them (known as special measures). Other features include short videos of victims talking honestly about the impact a crime has had on them. These are all based on real events but played by actors. The information is based on Victim Support's expertise gained from running the country's only specialist service supporting young witnesses as well as from supporting crime victims of all ages. Amanda Naylor, senior manager for Children and Young People at Victim Support, said: "More under-18s are the victim of crime than any other age group, yet our research shows they don't always realise they are crime victims and don't know where to go to get help if they don't want to go to the police. "This is why it's so important that there is somewhere, like this website, setting it out in a way that makes sense to children and young people. "We planned and developed this website in collaboration with a panel of under-18s as we wanted to make sure it would work for them. "We rely on donations to continue the face-to-face support our experts offer to young crime victims, including victims of child sexual exploitation." And Alison Saunders, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “Young people and children are some of the most vulnerable victims and witnesses we serve as prosecutors. "Their evidence can often hold the key to convicting dangerous criminals and I welcome the innovative work that Victim Support is doing to take away some of the fear and uncertainty that can come with giving evidence. "For our own part, we have recently published draft guidance for our prosecutors on speaking to witnesses at court, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Victim Support on this important issue.”  |
| Women underrepresented in the 2014 Press Awards Posted: 26 Feb 2015 02:07 AM PST
The 2014 Press Awards have failed to recognise quality journalism in women writers: the nominees are overwhelmingly male. Organised by the Society of Editors, and with a plethora of well-known sponsors including Camelot, EY, L'Oreal, Unison, Reuters and Google, the awards aim to celebrate ‘the best of UK national newspaper journalism’. The shortlists for the Press Awards for 2014 were announced earlier this month, and the winners will be revealed at a glittering gala dinner at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, in London on 10 March 2015. This year, the executive director of the Society of Editors and chairman of the judges, Bob Satchwell, remarked delightedly on the "range and diversity of the output of national newspapers" considered by the judges. A diversity reflected in the number of categories open for nominations, but not among the nominees, apparently. Because, as Rachel Moss pointed out in the Huffington Post recently, women are drastically under-represented in the nominations. Of the 22 categories which include references to individual journalists, eight have entirely male nominees (including Business and Finance Journalist, Political Journalist of the Year and Columnist of the Year – Broadsheet) and nine are dominated by men (including Feature Writer of the Year, Columnist of the Year – Pop, Critic of the Year and News Reporter of the Year). The remaining five include three with equal male and female nominees and one category where women dominate (Interviewer of the Year – Pop). The last category is the only category containing only female nominees – and that is because it is The Georgina Henry Women in Journalism Prize for Innovation. And the Women in Journalism Prize was only added this year because of previous criticism of the lack of nominations for women. While many had hoped the Women in Journalism Prize would go some way to redressing the gender imbalance in the awards, with only two female dominated and three equal categories out of 22, the Prize smacks more than a little of tokenism. Some remarks about this year have been the predicable tweets that have repeated the old excuse that awards are about 'quality' not gender. However, as Holly Peacock, former community editor at Grazia Magazine, said to the Huffington Post, it is not an issue of quality. “It's not just that we're simply short of poignant female writers – it is the value we place on their voices and the topics they write about, which is an altogether more ingrained and challenging issue to tackle. “A lack of diversity in general is never good news, but when it comes to journalism it can be dangerous. Without female voices we perpetuate the idea that the male voice is the voice of authority. “Although we are making progress and challenging the idea that issues affecting women should not be solely discussed without the inclusion of women (reproductive rights etc) we still have an issue with tokenism. “Women who write about topics outside of the perceived realm of ‘women’s issues’ are not always welcomed as equals,” she added. In a statement aimed at addressing the concerns, Bob Satchwell took pains to highlight that some of the judges were women, too. "In the Columnist Broadsheet category which has been singled out, half of the judges were female." However, he conceded: "Clearly more needs to be done to encourage women to enter the awards and recognise that the journalism they produce across all fields is worthy of recognition." In an industry where women are being driven away from writing publically due to vicious backlashes of online trolling, as Michelle Goldberg recently highlighted in the Washington Post, it is more important than ever that female writers are recognised as equals to male writers.  |
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