This is a blog by our Communications and Campaigns Manager, Keeva Baxter.
When the Labour Government came into power in 2024, they pledged to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. This ambitious but necessary commitment is going to be a challenge for them to achieve if serious changes aren’t made.
The statistics on violence against women and girls speak for themselves:
1 in 4 women have been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16.
71,227 rapes were recorded by police in 2024 and by the end of 2024, charges had been brought in just 2.7% of these cases.
1 in 4 women in England and Wales will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime.
In 2022-23, 20% of all police-recorded crime was related to violence against women and girls.
But at present, the traditional justice system retraumatises survivors of these crime types, subjecting them to long delays, gruelling cross examinations and low conviction rates. On top of this, low reporting rates show a lack of trust in the system and the stigma that survivors face that discourage them from coming forward.
So what can be done?
Many survivors tell us that the trauma they face as a result of the crime is compounded by the trauma caused by the justice process. It is crucial that, in the absence of significant justice reform, survivors are given a way to repair some of the harm they have experienced, and take back control of their healing. Restorative Justice offers a way for survivors to be empowered to have a voice, get their questions answered and to demythologise the person who harmed them. This can lead to reduced symptoms of trauma, a more meaningful sense of ‘justice’ and the ability to find a way forward.
There are unique considerations when addressing the crime types in this category, in particular, intimate partner abuse, coercive control and some sexual offences. However, these additional risks do not preclude people from taking part in Restorative Justice, if anything, when done safely they can be even more powerful.
How can we do it safely?
We have recently met with two organisations who deliver Restorative Justice to survivors of domestic and sexual violence – one from New Zealand and one from the Netherlands. This allowed us to learn more about the international work being done to ensure that survivors of VAWG offences can access Restorative Justice safely.
We firstly met with an organisation called ‘Perspectief Herstelbemiddeling’ who are a Government-funded organisation who provide Restorative Justice across the Netherlands. A large proportion of the cases that they deliver are sexual violence cases. They shared how there is a pro-RJ culture amongst the VAWG sector, and that they get many referrals from the Centre for Sexual Violence. They accept a wide range of domestic and sexual violence cases, including those that have not gone through a court process. You can learn more about their work on the Perspectief Herstelbemiddeling website, and can switch to the English version of their website in the top right corner. Lots of the resources on their page and their Instagram are subtitled in English too.
We also got a visit from Fiona Landon of Project Restore New Zealand, who met us at our offices to share information about their service. Project Restore has been running for 20 years, and is a service delivering Restorative Justice specifically for sexual violence cases.
Fiona shared the importance of having a separate service tailored to the specific needs of survivors of sexual violence. They take a multi-agency approach to their work, using professionals who have worked with survivors and professionals who have worked in sexual harm prevention alongside restorative facilitators. Like the Netherlands, New Zealand also have a supportive sexual violence sector who enable referrals. Both also had Restorative Justice embedded in the traditional legal system. Learn more about the work of Project Restore.
We feel lucky to be connected to organisations across the world that are delivering Restorative Justice safely and effectively in these cases. We will continue to learn from good practice and share our findings with the sector. If you deliver Restorative Justice for cases of domestic or sexual violence, and have ideas you want to share, get in touch with us at info@why-me.org.
