New data from the Crown Prosecution Service, released today on international day for the elimination of violence against women, finds more than 4 out of 5 charges for stalking and image-based sexual abuse are linked to domestic abuse. In 83% of stalking charges, 86% of image-based sexual abuse or ‘revenge porn’ charges, and 35% of rape charges, these offences occurred in the context of domestic abuse.
The CPS released these figures alongside its five year violence against women and girls strategy. Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said:
“All too often, in what is presented as a domestic abuse case involving physical violence, we see many layers including strangulation, controlling or coercive behaviour and ‘revenge porn’. It is vital we train our staff to recognise the full picture of abuse so the charges we make reflect the totality of the offending.
“It is only by doing this and ensuring that perpetrators face the full force of the law that we will the message get through, especially to younger men and boys – and we will start to see progress in reducing these crimes.”
The CPS said its main aims for the new VAWG strategy were to improve casework quality and increase public trust in the CPS. As part of the strategy, the CPS will roll out new training on specific categories of VAWG, including ‘honour’ based abuse, female genital mutilation, stalking and harassment. It will also utilise academic research on the overlap between domestic abuse and sexual offences, and offer pre-trial meetings for adult victims of sexual offences.
This follows new research from Rape Crisis England and Wales, which finds there are now 13,238 sexual offence cases awaiting trial in the Crown Courts, a 66% increase since their first report on this subject was published in 2022. Survivors of adult rape are currently waiting an average of 499 days before the Crown Court will hear their trial in cases where a defendant has not been remanded. This is 192 days longer than parties are currently waiting in all other offence categories.
FOI data also shows that 1 in 3 rape trials were delayed in 2024, compared to 1 in 10 in 2015. The new report features the experiences of survivors who have seen their case postponed up to six times in the Crown Court. Sexual offence trials listed as ‘floating trials’ (whereby participants are told the trial will take place at some point within a brief time period, rather than a fixed date, and are not allocated a specific judge or courtroom until the last minute) increased by 257% between 2014 to 2023. RCEW is calling for an end to this practice, instead they say sexual offence trials should be given a fixed date court listing.
Maxime Rowson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at RCEW, and author of the report, said:
“Waiting over 2 years for a trial puts a huge strain on survivors and their families, many of whom are told that their trial has been delayed at the last minute. The process is retraumatising, disrupts lives, and is so difficult that many survivors are forced to withdraw from the justice system entirely.
The delays survivors are forced to endure at court often follow already lengthy waits for police investigations and CPS charging decisions, making the criminal justice system a profoundly damaging experience for survivors who are trying to cope and recover from the abuse they have endured.”
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