Police fail domestic violence victims

...as government launches action plan to tackle violence against women and girls.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has found that police response to domestic violence cases are not good enough and must be improved.

In a damming report published last week they found that only eight out of 43 forces were adequately serving domestic violence victims.

The report said there were 269,000 domestic-abuse-related crimes in England and Wales between 2012 and 2013 and 77 women killed.

Domestic violence incidents accounted for eight per cent of all recorded crime and one third of assaults with injury.

One in four young people aged ten to 24 said they had experienced domestic violence or abuse during their childhood.

On average an emergency call is made to the police about domestic violence every 30 seconds.

And domestic violence is estimated to cost £15.7bn a year.

While most police and crime commissioners say that domestic violence is a priority this is not being translated into reality.

Lancashire was deemed to be performing best, and seven other forces including Norfolk, Northumbria and Suffolk were praised, but the report found weaknesses in all other forces.

The authors had ‘very serious concerns' about the performance of the Greater Manchester, Bedfordshire and Gloucestershire forces which were causing particular concern.

The report found the initial response from police was too often poor, with inadequate collection of evidence, at the scene.

One third of victims interviewed said they felt no safer after a police visit and many said they didn’t always feel they were being taken seriously or believed.

The report concluded that many officers lacked the skills to properly deal with domestic violence cases.

It also found some officers had poor attitudes towards victims.

The centralisation of Serious Rape and Sexual Offence centres following spending cuts was creating ‘risky gaps’ in support available to victims.

The report said forces’ approaches to risk assessment were ‘confused’ and punishment of perpetrators ‘inconsistent’.

The authors call for the establishment of a national oversight group to report on progress on a quarterly basis, calls for all forces to have action plans for tackling domestic violence in place by September and that they should focus on improving police culture and attitudes.

Data, including the views of the victims, should be rigorously collected, analysed and published.

The College of Policing should review the way risk assessments are carried out, improve training and circulate good practice.

The inspectors say there should also be an investigation into the way health, local authorities and voluntary agencies work together with police to tackle domestic violence.

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said the report made ‘depressing reading’, and that she would take personal charge of the response by chairing the national oversight group.

“The police now must take urgent action. The HMIC report shows that there needs to be a fundamental change in police culture,” she said.

But domestic violence charity Refuge called for a public inquiry.

The charity's chief executive, Sandra Horley, said it was a national disgrace that, decades after opening of the first refuge the police were still not responding adequately.

The government also launched the 2014 Action Plan of its strategy 'A Call to End Violence Against Women and Girls'.

In it, the government pledges to improve public awareness and attitudes, and will do so by  including better education in schools,  providing better training for frontline workers and supporting those affected by honor killings, Female Genital Mutilation and support for girls involved in gangs.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 31 March 2014.

Querying guidance on Sharia wills

Protest planned as good practice guide suggests male heirs ‘receive double’ that of women'.

Campaigners are demanding the Law Society tear up a practice note on ‘Sharia-compliant wills’ which they believe will lead to more discrimination against women and children born outside of marriage.

The guidance says: “The male heirs in most cases receive double the amount inherited by a female heir of the same class.

“Non-Muslims may not inherit at all, and only Muslim marriages are recognised.

"Similarly, a divorced spouse is no longer a Sharia heir, as the entitlement depends on a valid Muslim marriage existing at the date of death.”

The practice note goes on to advise lawyers to ‘amend clauses which define the term 'children' or 'issue' to exclude those who are illegitimate or adopted.

The Law Society says that its practice notes ‘represent the Law Society's view of good practice in a particular area’.

“You are not required to follow them, but doing so will make it easier to account to oversight bodies for your actions.

“Practice notes are not legal advice,” the note reads.

The Lawyers Secular Society has issued a petition urging the Law Society to withdraw its ‘discriminatory’ guidance, which, it says, legitimises discrimination against women, non Muslims and ‘illegitimate’ and adopted children.

A protest is planned for 28 April at 5.00pm.

In a statement the Lawyers Secular Society said: “Although the Law Society’s practice note does not change the law, it does undermine, for example, the way adopted children, children born out of wedlock, and children who are deemed to be of another faith are viewed.

“At the very least this practice note undermines the dignity of these children; at the worst it starts to slowly undermine the legal protections rightly afforded to them.”

The Lawyers Secular Society is also concerned that the note may lead to different rules being applied to Muslims, or people assumed to be Muslims, who die without having made a will.

It adds: “Ultimately, this guidance contributes to the ongoing legitimisation of discriminatory Sharia law practices as alternatives to egalitarian and secular English and UK laws.”

Gita Sahgal, of the Centre for Secular Space, one of the organisations supporting the campaign, described the publication as ‘very frightening’.

“It steps outside [the Law Society’s] remit.  It is bad advice and it undermines equality which solicitors have a duty to uphold.

“In British law you have enormous scope to dispose of your property as you like.  You can favour one child over another.  What is peculiar is that the Law Society feels it needs to direct people to do so.

“Sharia-compliant smacks of Islamic fundamentalism,” she said.

The Law Society's president Nicholas Fluck said it currently had no plans to issue any further faith-based guidance and that reports that they were promoting Sharia Law were inaccurate and ill-informed.

"We live in a diverse multi-faith, multi-cultural society. The Law Society responded to requests from its members for guidance on how to help clients asking for wills that distribute their assets in accordance with Sharia practice.

“Our practice note focuses on how to do that, where it is allowed under English law.”

But Sahgal believes the Law Society has been lobbied by fundamentalist lawyers who want to bring in Muslim personal laws by the back door.

“Political Islam is already operating Sharia courts which the British state has not challenged.  They rationalise extremely out of date practices which no one needs to observe in this country.

“The Law Society should apologise for such a mistaken judgement. If they keep this the Jewish, Christian and Hindu fundamentalists will not be far behind demanding guidance on all sorts of issues,” she said.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 3 April 2014