Violence against women and girls to the same status as terrorist attacks, severe crime and child sexual abuse, the government suggests.
Brutality against women is planned to be added to the “strategic policing requirement”, which means that the government will demand police to handle this matter as one of the top priorities because of mass violence against women nationwide.
The Times has said: “Chief constables will be mandated to increase resources and combine capabilities in a drastic effort to drive up rape convictions, which have reached historically low levels.”
The directive followed the murder of Sarah Everard that happened on the 3 of March, 2021, which led to to increased discussion regarding the topic of women’s safety in the UK. From this, the Government made an effort to create safety bids by giving £5 million to 22 organisations nationwide to upgrade the safety of women and girls at night.
According to The Guardian, by the end of June 2021, a total of 61,158 rape cases were recorded in England and Wales, which is the highest recording to date. However in an article by The Times, it was said that in 2019, only 1,109 of 57,000 rape cases were reported.
From this, others crimes against females are not tackled well either. In 2021, a number of 846,235 domestic violence cases was registered. In terms of stalking and harassing, offenders usually are only given informal punishments like rehabilitation courses or an apology to the victim.
This is how the Women’s Equality Party reacted to the new government’s directive:
The UK government’s decision to tackle crimes against women more seriously is a much-needed step towards a safer and brighter present and future.
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Words: Daniele Kieraite | Subbing: Tia Janowski