1. Violent crimes against women
Joan Garrod
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2. Violent crimes against women
In September 2016 the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) published its annual report into violence against women and girls in England and Wales. Despite a reduction in violent crimes generally, and against men in particular, the report showed that the number of prosecutions for offences against women, including domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault, rose by almost 10% in the year 2015–16. The actual number was 117,568.
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3. Violent crimes against women
Discuss:
What reasons can you suggest for this increase?
Do you think that ‘crimes against women’ should include only actual physical abuse or harm?
What else might you include?
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4. Violent crimes against women
Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, warned against the increasing use of social media to threaten and control. She said that the ease with which such crimes could be committed online was contributing to the increase in prosecutions. In an interview with the Guardian*, she said: ‘The use of the internet, social media and other forms of technology to humiliate, threaten and control individuals is rising and it is something that we will probably see increase further. It is undoubtedly easier to commit a lot of these crimes online, people do it without thinking, it is more immediate and it is about the reach and ability to communicate to so many more people.’ * 6 September 2016
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5. Violent crimes against women
One new area adding to the number of prosecutions involved the new so-called ‘revenge porn’ laws. In April 2015 a new law came into force, namely ‘disclosing private sexual images without consent’. Since then, there have been 206 cases taken to court, with many individuals pleading guilty. However, 206 prosecutions represent only a tiny proportion of the number of complaints. A special helpline was contacted by more than 3,700 victims in its first year. Other areas involving the use of the internet to harass and intimidate women are stalking and harassment, with record numbers now being taken to court. In 2015–16 the CPS prosecuted more such cases (12,986) than ever before. Of these, almost 70% involved ongoing domestic abuse, with many offenders using the internet or other technology as part of the offending.
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6. Violent crimes against women
The director of public prosecutions accepted that crimes such as stalking, domestic abuse, rape and sexual assault were under-reported, and that the number of prosecutions reflected only a proportion of the actual crimes being committed. She also identified an area of increasing concern as the use of extremely violent pornographic communications, such as images of women being raped, or of women being subjected to sadistic violence. There have been new sections of the law to deal with this type of offence, resulting in 1,737 prosecutions in the last year. Taken together, crimes against women now make up almost 19% of prosecutions. This is more than any other single group of crimes, including terrorism and fraud.
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7. Violent crimes against women
According to official crime statistics, violent crime has been in decline since the 1990s, and men are the most likely victims. However, some researchers have challenged this, and say that women are bearing the brunt of ‘an invisible rise’ in violent crime. Sylvia Walby, Unesco chair in gender research and professor of sociology at Lancaster University, led a team looking again at data collected by the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) between 1994–2014. Statisticians compiling the data cap the number of similar crimes that a person can report to the survey at 5, to prevent a few cases skewing the statistics. However, Professor Walby argues that this method excludes the experiences of ‘high frequency’ victims — particularly those suffering from repeated domestic abuse. These often make up more than 5% of respondents.
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8. Violent crimes against women
To counteract this, Walby and her team looked at all reported crimes. They also altered the definition of violent crime to include sexual offences such as rape, which the CSEW usually gives as separate figures. The results showed that the fall in violent crime reached a turning point in 2009, after which there was a rise in domestic violence and violence against women by acquaintances. Figures for violence against women by strangers remained flat, and violence against men continued to fall, but the rise in the type of violent crime against women mentioned above was so marked that it gave rise to an overall rise in violent crime. Question: Do you think that the method used by Professor Walby was a more accurate way of looking at violent crime than that used by the CSEW?
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9. Violent crimes against women
Why should this rise in violent crimes against women coincide with the financial crisis and the start of austerity politics in Britain? Women’s groups point to House of Commons research showing that direct taxes and social security cuts will take £9.6 billion net from families — £7 billion of which is from women. At a time when many women need their services, rape crisis centres and specialist services for violence against women and girls have had their funding slashed or removed. Vivienne Hayes, chief executive of the Women’s Resource Centre, is quoted as saying: ‘Research from a range of sources suggests that over the last few years our societal view of women, from violent pornography, violent computer games, street harassment and everyday sexism […] is creating a view of women which nurtures and normalises our violation. Only when we take a bird’s-eye view of all of these issues and develop a joined-up strategy to tackle them head on, will we see a reduction in violent crime against women.’ Question: To what extent do you agree with these views?
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10. Violent crimes against women
Summary:
Prosecutions for a number of different crimes against women are rising.
Many offenders are using social media and other technologies to harass and intimidate their victims.
There is significant under-reporting of crimes such as domestic violence, rape, other forms of sexual abuse and stalking, including ‘cyber-stalking’.
The manner in which the statistics are collected serves to underestimate the number of such crimes significantly.
The rise in crimes against women appears to be linked to the financial crisis and so-called ‘austerity politics’.
Many organisations dedicated to helping women victims have had their funding severely reduced.
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