Bristol report says lack of trust in police preventing violence against women convictions
The effects of the distrust are "far reaching" according to the report's lead author
A new report from the University of Bristol says offenders of violence against women and girls (VAWG) remain much less likely to be charged compared to perpetrators of other crimes because of a lack of trust in the police, in particular from black and other ethnic minority communities.
The report, from the university's Centre for Gender and Violence Research is based on feedback from police officers, filmed responses to VAWG call outs and incident case files, is being published as 16 days of action against the issue, led by the United Nations, ends on Tuesday (10th December).
Lead author Aisha K. Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University’s School for Policy Studies and Head of Centre for Gender and Violence Research, said: “Our research shows there’s still a long way to go in achieving a step change in how police tackle such crimes. Police officers themselves also acknowledged a persistent lack of trust in the system, which is hard to shift.
“The effects of this distrust are far-reaching, including deterring victims from reporting incidents in the first place which perpetuates the problem and lack of progress.”
Research for the report looked at 55 police case files on domestic violence, rape and serious sexual assault offences and found that less than a quarter of them (24 percent), resulted in charges being brought against an offender.
Professor Gill said that figure is "highly disproportionate" compared to national police performance on most other crimes.
“Our findings echo crime outcomes in England and Wales, which show rape offences seldom result in a charge or summons and we need to better understand the many complicated factors influencing this," Professor Gill said.
"Home Office data shows that just 1.3 percent of the recorded rape offences that were assigned an outcome resulted in a charge or summons.”
Lower levels of trust in the police among the racially minoritised were acknowledged by a majority of officers surveyed in the report, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield.
One officer remarked: “I know, in the Black community, there's a massive barrier, there's no trust in the police and in another community some women don't feel comfortable speaking to male officers.”
The officer indicated more training is needed so officers can overcome their prejudices and preconceptions and be more aware when addressing particular groups.
Their feedback said: “We've got to educate everybody internally, our cops, so that, when they're going out there, they're understanding who they're policing and without having the unconscious biases and making assumptions, but also just being mindful when they're speaking to people from different communities.”
Some respondents noted how decline in trust was not only apparent among members of the public but was also affecting their relationship and joint working with other statutory service.
One commented: “It also impacts our partners as well and they see things in a negative way. I hear case after case at MARAC multi-agency risk assessment conference where our partners will be really highly critical of the police. ‘Why couldn’t you have done this? Why couldn’t you have kept him in custody?’
"Well, the victim is disengaged, we hadn’t got the evidence. Even they don’t understand. We put a lot of onus on our partners to work and get that trust. It’s very difficult for us to regain it, I think.”
Respondents also highlighted how erosion of trust in the police was often the outcome of the workings of the criminal justice system more broadly, with the public viewing the police as the face of that system and hence blamed them for broader systemic failures.
In many cases, officers pointed to challenges in gathering sufficient evidence to meet the threshold required by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The majority of the 54 officers in the focus groups emphasised the inherent difficulties of evidencing violence against women due to its ‘private’ nature and attributed the attrition in the criminal justice system at this stage of the process to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
One officer said: “I think a big problem as well is a lot of people can't differentiate between CPS and the police. So, when we've got all the evidence together, we've gone to the CPS and the CPS say no charge or the person gets found not guilty, the victims blame us.”
Survivors’ reluctance to support a prosecution was also evident, the report says.
On the whole, the decision to prosecute was shaped by the victims’ wishes as well as the police’s assessment of the re-victimisation risk and concerns around safeguarding the victim and any children.
Co-lead author Professor Sundari Anitha, Chair in Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield, added: “Another key concern raised by respondents – and one that was also evident from the police case files – was diminishing victim engagement following the initial report to the police, and victim retraction, which led to the discontinuation of the investigation and the victim’s decision to take no further action.
“This was the case in the majority of the case files. In some cases, retraction occurred because the act of reporting itself seemed to fulfil the victim’s immediate needs. On the issue of victim retraction, officers repeatedly raised the question of what victims of crime want when they make a report to the police.
"A better understanding of the reasons for differential rates of victim retraction and lack of support for prosecution is vital: rather than reflecting any inherent orientation among particular communities, retraction might instead reflect victims’ broader lack of confidence in the ability of the police and the wider criminal justice system to deliver just outcomes.”
The report, funded by the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, will be presented to experts in the field and community representatives in Bristol this week.