How serious is the Labour party about tackling male violence against women and girls? In June, while campaigning for the general election, then shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper pledged the matter would be treated as a ‘national emergency‘. Last week, the Home Office finally announced the development of a national initiative to use data-driven tools and algorithms that analyse police data to identify and pursue perpetrators of abuse such as domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking.
Most abusers never face accountability
This would be a positive step, particularly the proposal of using technology to build risk profiles for victims and perpetrators overseen by authorities to enhance victim safety. But it would be helpful to see the actual policy once it is published rather than an announcement that it will be created. The government announcement states: ‘These tools, used alongside police officers’ expert judgment, will help law enforcement prioritise and pursue the most dangerous offenders, enabling a more effective allocation of police resources.’
Would this initiative address the perpetrators within the Police forces? A report from the Centre for Women’s Justice, also published last week, notes that there is a systemic problem of male violence within the ranks, with some officers accused of rape and domestic abuse promoted into positions tasked with tackling these crimes: ‘There is still ample evidence to show that there are still far too many police officers escaping sanction, despite multiple allegations of abuse, with some rising through the ranks and even promoted to roles with responsibility for policing rape and domestic abuse,’ the report concludes.
If the Labour party is so alarmed by male violence, why didn’t they kick off their government with an overhaul of the policies and practices that have been failing women? Instead, they did the exact opposite. Bizarrely, Labour decided to prioritise an Early Release Scheme for prisoners that served only 40 per cent of their sentence with 5,500 scheduled for released between September and October. A deeply unpopular measure meant to reduce overcrowding put victims at a foreseeable disadvantage, with some women not being informed that their perpetrators would be released earlier than expected.
The Victim’s Commissioner for England and Wales argued that those women would not have the opportunity ‘to put protective measures in place’. Despite reassurances from the Prime Minister that ‘high-risk prisoners’ would not be released, the scheme put back on the street men who have broken women’s jaws and slashed women’s bodies while boasting about hoping to make her children orphans. What is Keir Starmer’s definition of high-risk?
The problem runs far deeper. Most abusers never face accountability: 67,928 rapes were recorded by police between April 2023 and March 2024. By the end of March 2024, charges had been brought in just 2.6 per cent of cases. When abusers do receive a sentence, the scales of justice tend to tip against women. Last week, seven bereaved family members of murdered women gathered in Parliament Square to request an urgent review of the sentencing guidelines for men who kill their current or former partners at home. As part of a campaign by the women’s rights organisation Killed Women, they held black and blue plaques reading: ‘The same murder outside the home would get a decade more. Murder is murder. Change the law.’
Murders that take place outside of the home typically carry harsher sentence than those committed inside. This poses a problem for women who, contrary to the stereotype of ‘stranger danger’, are more likely to face violence and murder from someone they know behind closed doors.
In their 2024 election manifesto, the Conservative government promised to change the law to bring tougher sentencing guidelines. Labour’s manifesto offered something similar: ‘Even when criminals are found guilty, the sentences they receive often do not make sense either to victims or the wider public. Labour will carry out a review of sentencing to ensure it is brought up to date.’
After 14 years of Conservative rule, it would have been far more sensible for Labour to start their government prioritising an overhaul of these unfair guidelines and rooting out the culture of impunity that has enabled abusers to thrive within police forces. The Labour party advertises that ‘our mission is to halve violence against women.’ Even if this was a policy aim, it is a grossly insensitive way to speak about male violence. Women do not need an end to portions and percentages of abuse; we need an end to violence full stop. If Labour wants to be taken seriously, the time for stronger leadership on tackling male violence is now.
Comments