Women’s Aid responds to the latest early release scheme amendments

Farah Nazeer, CEO at Women’s Aid, has released the following statement following the government’s announcement of amendments to the early release scheme under the Sentencing Act:

“Since the announcement of the Early Release Scheme we have consistently expressed our grave concerns about its impact on women and children who are survivors of domestic abuse.  

It is unacceptable that the latest review into the Sentencing Act has not identified domestic abuse offences as being out of scope of sentencing changes, meaning perpetrators will still be eligible for early release.  

While we welcome the decision to bar rape, certain child sex offences and other grooming offences from sentencing changes, we are deeply concerned that the government has not understood the danger posed by perpetrators of domestic abuse. The nature of domestic abuse means that the risk of repeat offending is high, and the danger is profound, with the staggering reality that on average one woman a week is killed by a partner or ex-partner. The decision to exclude perpetrators of abuse from this review sends a shocking message to both survivors and perpetrators and it is intolerable that women and children who escaped abuse could be confronted with it again, even after justice has been served.  

We welcome the announcement of a new package of victim support and strengthened community supervision, but additional steps must be taken to ensure that survivors of abuse are not put at further risk of harm or re-traumatisation.”  

We urge the government to use the coming weeks before these measures come into force to work with us to exclude perpetrators of abuse from the scheme and to take further action to keep survivors safe. This should also be accompanied by ambitious  long-term investment in victim support and custodial reform, to protect women and children from further harm."