Women’s Aid responds to the second part of Sir Brian Leveson’s review

Farah Nazeer, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, comments:  

“Today, the government published Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts: Part II. The Review provides a detailed examination of the causes of the growing and insurmountable backlog in the criminal courts. For too long, survivors have been denied justice – or in the case of Black and minoritised survivors – ignored and shut out, by the criminal justice system’s response to offences relating to violence against women and girls (VAWG).  

 

 

“The Review confirms the experience of survivors and VAWG organisations that chronic underfunding has been a key driver of the current crisis in the criminal courts. The Review also recognises the urgent need to address fragmented governance and siloed decision-making and calls for a single, coordinated vision and accountability across the criminal justice system – a message that strongly chimes with the scale of change needed to halve VAWG in a decade. 

 

 

“Despite some of the positive changes, we continue calling for mandatory, specialist domestic abuse training to be available for all court professionals. Coercive control is an insidious part of domestic abuse and it is vital that judges and magistrates understand its complexity, and the responsibility that they have towards survivors – women and children alike. As Leveson notes, ongoing and refresher training is critical, and we welcome the call for His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Judicial College to consider its current training offer. It is critical that this is extended to the justice system’s wider training offer, with the safety and wellbeing of survivors at the heart of all decision-making.”