Tackling violence against women: Kim Johnson MP joins Bar Council to hear about the role of the courts

 

The family courts are an integral part of the solution to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG), the Bar Council argued at a roundtable event hilighting the importance of both the family and criminal courts.

The Bar Council invited Kim Johnson MP (Liverpool Riverside) and Emma Kay of The First Step – the only independent specialist domestic abuse service in Knowsley – to join the roundtable discussion with criminal and family barristers on tackling violence against women and girls in Merseyside, hosted by the Northern Circuit at Exchange Chambers on Friday 7 March.

According to the report ‘Femicide in Merseyside’ of the 63 Merseyside women killed by men between 2009 and 2023, 95% knew their killers and 56% of the killings were by men with whom the women were, or had been, in an intimate relationship. Domestic abuse related killings account for 85% of all femicides in Merseyside – higher than the national average of 75%.

The discussion considered the impact of domestic abuse on victims in Merseyside and the participants highlighted the need to look beyond punishment of offenders and how the family and criminal courts can help with prevention, treatment and lowering risks to women and girls. The interplay with the new Family Drug and Alcohol Court due to open soon in Liverpool was also discussed.

Housing and homelessness

A worrying theme that emerged from the discussion is the significant knock-on effect of domestic abuse on other services – Liverpool’s homeless population includes a high proportion of women fleeing domestic abuse. Women may be housed in hotels with nowhere to prepare healthy food, sterilise baby bottles, or wash clothes. Or they may be displaced out of the city where they lose the support of family and friends and children are uprooted. This can increase the likelihood of women returning to the alleged perpetrator. As part of the Spending Review, the government must invest in the family justice system if it is to end the horrific roll call of violence and the deaths of women. It must spend in the justice system in order to save on costs.

Impact of court delays

With defendants often on bail, cases are not being listed in the criminal courts for more than 2 years. In the family court, it is taking up to a year. Delays in cases coming to court can lead to a reconciliation with the alleged perpetrator – even resulting, in some cases, in a woman providing a personal statement in support of the defendant. If cases were coming to court within 6 months, instead of 18 months, there would be more chance of conviction and less chance of reconciliation, which could result in further harm.

Shortage of courses for perpetrators

In family cases, when a perpetrator is found to have committed domestic abuse, there aren’t enough courses available for perpetrators to be referred to and it can be a postcode lottery.

For example, the Engage programme in Cheshire is a practical intervention developed by a forensic psychologist bringing together multi-agency professionals to create a systematic approach to working with perpetrators. But the scheme doesn’t extend to Merseyside.

Problem solving courts

A new Family and Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) is due to open in Liverpool in April. FDAC is an alternative family court for care proceedings specially designed to work with parents who struggle with drug and alcohol misuse, but parents will often have other difficulties as well, including experiences of domestic abuse.

Women can be fearful of reporting domestic abuse in case it leads to the removal of their children. Problem-solving courts, like FDAC, can support children remaining at home or reuniting with parents at the end of care proceedings.

Evaluation of FDAC by the National Centre for Social Research in 2023 found that children with a primary carer in FDAC care proceedings were more likely to be reunified with their primary carer at the end of the proceeding (52%) in comparison to children with a primary carer in non-FDAC care proceedings (12.5%).

Victim/survivor voices

All agreed that the main priority of victim/survivors, especially when children are involved, is for their voices to be heard and for their children to be safe. A conviction on its own cannot change risk for the survivor and her children especially once the perpetrator is back in the community. In some cases, that means diversion for perpetrators into programmes could be a better approach but only if robust courses are available to challenge abusive behaviour and achieve change. In the right case, if change in the perpetrator’s behaviour can be achieved quicker than securing a conviction, that will be of longer-term benefit to the survivor and her children.

The special measures for victim/survivors have to start at the door of the court. In Liverpool family court all court users come through the same entrance, increasing the likelihood that women will come into contact with their alleged perpetrator.

Commenting after the roundtable discussion, Barbara Mills KC, Chair of the Bar Council, said: “In Merseyside the vast majority of women and girls are harmed not by strangers but by men who profess to love them. Often that abuse takes place within the family home and that’s why the family courts – as well as the criminal courts – are so essential in tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG). We want to change the narrative so that every time people talk about VAWG, they think about the family justice system, as well as criminal justice.

“Bringing together family and criminal barristers in our roundtable discussion, it was clear that both elements must be part of the solution and need to work together, alongside the excellent domestic abuse services like The First Step. There was unanimous support for problem-solving courts, like the new Family Drug and Alcohol Court due to open in Liverpool this April. It is critical that these initiatives get the financial resources and multi-disciplinary team they need to be effective.”