Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year
So, it is that time of year again! To all my new subscribers - Welcome. And to all my long standing subscribers - Thank you all for supporting me and reading my blogs for another year. I know I haven’t been as present on here as I would of liked to have been. But I hope to change that in 2025.
We have seen another year with not much visible change in the world of domestic abuse and violence. Still, every week - No, every day! there are stories in the news about women being killed by their partners/ex partners. Still, we see perpetrators being given ridiculous sentences. Giving perpetrators absolutely no incentive to change their behaviour. Another year with a broken justice system. In the UK anyway. The courts with backed up cases stretching into 2026 in some instances. Prisons overflowing. The government’s early release scheme which saw over 3,000 people be released early from prison in an attempt to free up space. Eligible prisoners serving more than five years were automatically released after only 40% of their fixed-term sentence, rather than the usual 50%.
The trouble is, we then had a situation where perpetrators of domestic abuse were being released early, which left their victims at risk once more. Although the government said that people who were in prison serving a sentence for a domestic abuse related incident, would not be released, how many of those three thousand people released early were in prison for something else but were, unknown to the authorities, perpetrators!!
Women in prison for crimes that they committed as a direct result of the abuse they were experiencing. Why is the system punishing these women?
The recent case of Sara Sharif. This poor child went through unimaginable abuse by her father and step mother.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0dper5nx4o
Her father - known to Surrey Social Services for domestic abuse related offences against more than one woman. He completed perpetrator programmes and manipulated the system to believe that he was not a danger to his children. This poor child should never have been given to her father. They took her out of school and ‘home schooled’ her, to hide her injuries and stop her from being able to reach out for help. Why were they allowed to do this?
It all makes me so angry. Nothing seems to change!
BUT! we have to keep trying to make a difference don’t we? In anyway we can.
We are now seeing the pilot phases of the new DAPO (Domestic Abuse Protection Orders). A DAPO is a new kind of protection order which is designed to give immediate and long term protection to victims of domestic abuse and violence. It is being piloted currently in 3 police force areas in the UK. Will it work? Often, with all best intentions, these legislative pieces of law do not work on the ground level but we shall see. If they do work they will definitely increase safety to victims/survivors. If you haven’t heard of a DAPO and want to know more information, please click on the link below.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0dper5nx4o
And with that, and because I am rambling a bit!, I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Take care all of you and I will ‘see’ you in 2025!