Last week, Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent of the Independent wrote an article on women with a history of domestic abuse and sexual violence who are ‘trapped’ in the criminal justice system. It is about The View Magazine’s survey and some results we have had come in from the ongoing survey from anonymised voices of women, who fall in the intersection of women who have been victims of abuse and who now find themselves in the criminal justice system as perpetrators or defendants.
Ms Oppenheim captures underlying issues of systemic and institutional racism, which is rooted in our society, but is also more prevalent within the criminal justice system. She concentrates on the link between domestic abuse and the offending behaviour of these women. In particular, she emphasised that Black and minority ethnic women are at a disadvantage in the system, as they face further prejudice.
In a further article written on 25th June, Ms Oppenheim states that only 13% of the UK population are of BAME background according to the last census in 2011. Research by Homelink, a charity that help people find move on accommodation post refuge accommodation, shows that over 60% of domestic abuse victims are of Black and minority ethnic (BAME) background and that they are not being properly served by the agencies meant to provide for their refuge, accommodation and other needs as they flee violence.
She questions why so many minoritised women cannot find move on accommodation and asks if this is because of the barriers, misunderstandings and pre-conceived notions made, based on the victim’s ethnicity. She adds that this results in ‘cultural background being overlooked or misunderstood, religious practices being ignored, and restricted access to translators.’
Women of minoritised backgrounds continue to be stigmatised and mistreated within the criminal justice system, which has led to over 100 deaths of women in prison according to figures from Inquest (https://www.inquest.org.uk/deaths-in-custody-a-form-of-violence-against-women, Inquest 2020). They are unfairly treated by the police and the justice system – discriminated and ignored. They are also stereotyped, in one case a young black woman was mislabelled as a member of a gang, when she was actually a college student.
Clare Simms, the managing editor of The View Magazine further highlights that there is also a lack of representation from ethnic minorities amid solicitors and barristers, which may add further to this vilification and sense of ‘otherness’ of these women from minoritised backgrounds within the justice system.
Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of Agenda, a charity campaigning for women at risk, added that these biases will continue to prevail without the right training and support for women in these communities.
Responses from women, including this one from a Black woman, who was a former prisoner and victim of domestic abuse state:
“I hope the government change the way we women are treated. And for judges and police officers to be trained about racial and generational trauma and to be properly educated about us.”
We continue to advocate for these women’s voices to be heard. To take part in our survey which ends at midnight on 30 June please go to: https://theviewmag.org.uk/domesticabuse
Links to articles:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/domestic-abuse-bame-women-services-a9586111.html
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