{"id":47804,"date":"2025-05-07T09:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T08:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womensaid.org.uk\/?p=47804"},"modified":"2025-05-07T09:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T08:17:11","slug":"womens-aid-respond-to-the-introduction-of-the-victims-and-courts-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womensaid.org.uk\/womens-aid-respond-to-the-introduction-of-the-victims-and-courts-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Aid respond to the introduction of the Victim\u2019s and Courts Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Women\u2019s Aid respond to the introduction of the Victim\u2019s and Courts Bill<\/h1>\n<p><strong>Isabelle Younane, Head of External Affairs at Women\u2019s Aid, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen\u2019s Aid welcomes the introduction of the Victim\u2019s and Courts Bill today, and the long overdue opportunity that this legislation presents to improve the support available for survivors of domestic abuse, and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). Sadly, we know that for far too long, women and children have been let down by the complex criminal justice system, which fails to recognise and prioritise the needs of survivors.<\/p>\n<p>Barriers throughout the criminal justice system, including a lack of understanding about the complexities of domestic abuse by professionals, poor support for survivors, and discrimination, leaves many unable to receive justice. In fact, a long history of failing within the criminal justice system has destroyed survivors trust, with\u00a0less than 1 in 5\u00a0women\u00a0feeling able to\u00a0report their experience to the police.<\/p>\n<p>The government\u00a0has\u00a0committed to halving violence against women and girls in the next decade, but if they are serious about doing so, we need to see\u00a0root-and-branch reforms\u00a0to\u00a0the criminal justice system\u00a0that\u00a0reflect the needs of survivors.\u00a0Commitments need to be made to\u00a0deliver long-awaited\u00a0reforms to the\u00a0family courts\u00a0so\u00a0that they\u00a0prioritise the safety of children, and to ensure proper investment in specialist domestic abuse services\u00a0\u2013\u00a0as these chronically under-funded services are crucial to women and children continuing through the justice system and to recovering from their experiences. Women\u2019s Aid also urges\u00a0the introduction of a new aggravated offence for domestic abuse to improve the visibility of this prevalent issue in the criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women\u2019s Aid respond to the introduction of the Victim\u2019s and Courts Bill Isabelle Younane, Head of External Affairs at Women\u2019s Aid, said: \u201cWomen\u2019s Aid welcomes the introduction of the Victim\u2019s and Courts Bill today, and the long overdue opportunity that this legislation presents to improve the support available for survivors of domestic abuse, and other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1464,"featured_media":47805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.3 - 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