Gemma Ferguson
225 posts
Nicole Kidman is *locking in* to this intense conversation with Jodie Foster during the Golden Globes commercial break
STATEMENT from Carole Gould, Julie Devey and Elaine Newborough of Killed Women on the Government's announcement of a review of the law of homicide and the sentencing framework for murder. Whilst we welcome the proposed wholesale reform of sentencing for homicides, and we acknowledge that the implementation of statutory ‘aggravating factors’ for strangulation and ending a relationship is a step forward, we know from our own cases that these aggravating factors carry no significant weighting in sentencing - perhaps a year for each factor at most. By only using the aggravating factor route to potentially harsher sentences, the government are continuing to say that domestic murderers ARE NOT as dangerous as those who murder strangers outside the home. During a recent meeting with Minister Alex Davies-Jones and Minister Sir Nic Dakin, we had the impression that they agreed with us that the two types of murderer were equally dangerous. The measures they are proposing today do not, however, reflect this. It is therefore disappointing that the Government are delaying the equalization of sentencing for homicides that take place in the home to be on a par with homicides in the street. The former disproportionally apply to women and, with all the rhetoric about halving violence against women and girls, it is hard to comprehend why the Government are not backing our campaign to put these dangerous offenders behind bars for longer. We believe that families should play a crucial role throughout the process of any changes being made to sentencing, as they know first-hand the impact and devastation that these murders create. We understand the counter argument about not wanting women who have been victims of domestic violence to receive the same tougher sentencing if they become perpetrators, but in such cases these women should be exempted from the sentencing guidelines on the grounds of diminished responsibility or self defence. This would require training for judges, barristers and police, for them to acquire a better understanding of why women kill, which would take only months rather than years. Once the judiciary have this deeper understanding, they will be better placed to inform juries, who have to consider evidence but do not have the tools to do so at present. It is distressing for us to realise that, despite all the meetings and conversations that we have held over the past five years with both sides of the House, Domestic Murders are still not considered to have the same level of severity as murders by strangers. The continued absence of any proper plan by the Government to tackle this inequality in sentencing is appalling. The fact that the Ministry of Justice continues to simply try to use aggravating factors to bring Domestic Homicides in line with other murders under the banner of “tougher sentences”, demonstrates that victims and victims’ families are not a priority for this Government. We will continue to campaign on behalf of victims and their families to make the change that’s needed. ‘The Change That’s Needed’, a short film by Killed Women: youtube.com/watch?v=rTnor9… Julie, Elaine & Carole
🌎 Women's Rights Organisations are driving transformation ! At this year's #SVRIForum2024 we share how to ethically scale VAWG prevention. Want to learn more on ethical scale? Check out our latest report here: ww2preventvawg.org/evidence-hub/p… #EthicalScale #SVRIForum2024 #VAWG
📆 Save the date! Join us with @RaisingVoices and @WW2PreventVAWG at #SVRIForum24 to learn, share & engage on what practice-based knowledge is and how it can help shape stronger #EVAW programming. 📅21 October at 9am, Cape Town 👉More info: svriforum2024.org/workshops/
