“When I talk to these mums, they are so broken, really broken, and they’re grateful to me because they know I’m talking about all of us,” Mina Smallman said recently of her role as a women’s safety campaigner, in the years since her two adult daughters were murdered in a London park. As Ms Smallman knows, the relatives of women killed by men are also victims. Many more families struggle with the impact of rape and other violence against women.
These offences are now so prevalent that the National Police Chiefs’ Council refers, in a new report, to a “national emergency”. The body’s first analysis of data from official statistics, including the crime survey, reveals that about 2 million women in England and Wales are victims of male violence each year. In the 12 months to March 2023, police recorded more than 100,000 rapes and serious sexual offences, and more than 400,000 domestic abuse-related crimes. Most worryingly, the number of offences has risen sharply – by 37% in five years – while perpetrators and victims are getting younger. The most common age for victims of tech-enabled violence is 10 to 15.
Labour has made an ambitious and welcome pledge to halve violence against women in a decade. It is now incumbent on ministers to explain how. So far, details are scanty, and reliant on boosts to the police and justice system, along with a vague promise to tackle misogyny in schools.
Police chiefs too have made bold statements. Their focus on sexual violence is partly a response to the murder of Sarah Everard by a police officer, and the sharing of photographs of Ms Smallman’s daughters by officers. In 2022, violence against women was upgraded to a policing priority on a par with terrorism and organised crime. The Met chief, Sir Mark Rowley, regards a tough approach as one means of restoring public confidence, which was badly dented by these and other scandals.
The question now is what the “whole-system approach” called for by the police, and the “national effort” referred to by Labour, amount to – beyond a belated acknowledgment of the problem’s size. Specialist teams to investigate and prosecute sexual crimes make a difference. So does properly funded victim support – which has too often been treated as a nice-to-have extra rather than an essential local service. The wider problems in courts, prisons and probation have degraded the system’s capacity to deliver justice, including rehabilitation. The approach of the family courts to domestic violence has also been criticised and should be reviewed.
But failing public services are not the sole reason why so many women and girls are attacked. The role of tech in facilitating and encouraging violence is one disturbing aspect of the present crisis. This includes online harassment, such as stalking and the sharing of intimate images, but also the influence of violent pornography – highlighted by police as a reason for the rise in offending by boys. This is currently being scrutinised by a government pornography review.
New risks, including the use of deep-fakes and AI to abuse women and children, mean further regulation should be prioritised. The last online safety law took too long to enact. Sex and relationships education should also be looked at by the government’s curriculum review. Police priorities, jury attitudes and funding for refuges are still important, but the discussion about violence against women needs to move on.
