Speakers include: Dr Lorraine Radford
Inspector Fiona Martin
Safer Southwark Partnership
Broken Rainbow
Minutes:
The chair introduced the panel:
Dr Radford gave an introduction to the issue of domestic violence which she said was rooted in inequality and profoundly affected individuals, especially children, but also the whole of the community. She went on to say that a quarter of women and a sixth of men would experience domestic violence over the course of their lives, and that anyone could be affected, whatever their sexual orientation, although the most common form was men inflicting domestic violence on women. She went on to give the Home Office definition of domestic violence which is: “An incident of threatening or abusive behaviour in the context of a close relationship or in the family.” Domestic violence was about coercion and control, and 20 women a week were killed by their partners in the UK. She went on to illustrate the impact of domestic violence on children with an example.
DS Davis, from the Metropolitan police, explained that the Domestic Violence Unit in Southwark was one of the busiest in the country, and dealt with “honour-based” violence, hate crime and domestic violence. She said that one of the problems the team came up against was an unwillingness by members of the public, such as neighbours to come forward and make witness statements, and that prosecutions sometimes fails because of this.
Pauline Campbell and Angela D’Urso, from the Safer Southwark Partnership, explained that different agencies worked in partnership which involved so-called MARACs (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) about cases of domestic violence, and possible interventions. Pauline Campbell reiterated that family members are deeply affected by domestic violence, and that they often do not want to get the police involved. She went on to say that legal advice and support was available for victims. Angela D’Urso said that it was important that services had an individual approach and that they provided appropriate one-to-one support. There were also independent advocates, who advocated on behalf of the victims. From the 1 April 2012 there would be a 24 hour service which was not the police, so that victims were more likely to come forward. There would also be a perpetrator programme to fight the cycle of violence.
Neil Dickens from Broken Rainbow outlined that domestic violence also occurred in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, and that there were special issues such as societal and internalised homophobia, which stopped people from coming forward or regarding themselves as having been the victims of domestic violence. Other issues which may come up were: blackmail, feeling less supported, isolation, not being believed. Broken Rainbow ran a helpline funded by the Home Office, and other projects to support domestic abuse survivors from the LGBT community by for example working out individual safety strategies with them. About 25% of gay men and lesbians had experienced domestic violence, but the percentage among trans-people was as high as 50%. For more information contact Broken Rainbow: www.broken-rainbow.org.uk
Ntokozo Dlova, from Bede House explained that the organisation was based at 351 Southwark Park Road and had programmes for supporting victims of domestic abuse and hate crime, and was open from Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. She emphasised that the organisation did not try to sway those they helped to follow a particular course of action, and offered groups for survivors of domestic abuse. No appointments were needed, people could just pop in. For more information, contact Bede House: 020 7237 3881 or www.bedehouse.org.