Women’s Aid responds to quarterly CPS data on domestic abuse prosecutions

 

Yesterday, the Crown Prosecution Service released its quarterly report of domestic abuse prosecution rates. The data shows that despite a slight increase in the number of referrals from the police, charging rates have decreased to 78.4% in Q3 23/24. Similarly, completed prosecutions reduced by 1.5% from 12,731 in Q2 to 12,538 in Q3 23/24. Lastly, the conviction rate reduced by 0.9 percentage points to 75.1% in Q3 23/24 from 76% in Q2 23/24, while conviction volumes have reduced by 2.7%, which serves to further undermine women’s trust in the criminal justice system.  

 

 Lucy Hadley, head of policy at Women’s Aid comments: 

  

“It is disheartening to see from the Crown Prosecution data that prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse have fallen slightly in the past quarter, continuing an overall downward trend over the past decade. 

  

 

“We know how important it is that survivors feel that they will be believed and supported when reporting abuse. Trust in the criminal justice system is at an all-time low and that is reflected in these statistics. Women will not come forward to report crimes if they do not think they will be taken seriously. This is even more challenging for Black and minoritised survivors who are faced with additional barriers and poor responses when they seek help. 

  

“These institutions must work urgently to restore women’s trust in them. We are calling for specialist training on domestic abuse across the justice system – from frontline officers, through to judges in the courts, to ensure that survivors are treated with the respect and compassion that they deserve. We are also calling on everyone across society to come together to eliminate the inherent sexism and misogyny which underpins women’s inequality and violence against them in society. 

“When survivors of domestic abuse have the courage to come forward to disclose the crimes committed against them, they must be believed and be able to feel confident that justice will be served and perpetrators will be held to account.”