NCJ Number
217525
Date Published
November 2006
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This second annual report on the British Government's progress in addressing violence against women focuses on developments in the design and implementation of an integrated strategy.
Abstract
The analysis found that although there are action plans and work programs that have focused on violence against women (e.g., the Rape Action Plan and the National Domestic Violence Action Plan), the Government still lacks a systematic or integrated approach to ending violence against women. Only the Crown Prosecution Service reported a strategic approach to violence against women that included planning, targets, training, budgets, and evaluation. Many government departments continue to view violence against women as essentially domestic violence. There is a general lack of comprehensive analysis of violence against women as an equality issue across the full range of women's and girls' experiences in the United Kingdom. An integrated strategy for ending violence against women should be devised by the Government in consultation with all relevant bodies, including women's organizations, other service providers, and government agencies. This integrated approach would include research on the nature, causes, and consequences of violence against women. It would also involve education and public information programs to raise public awareness of violence against women and the attitudes that promote it. Other features of an integrated strategy would be effective criminal and civil remedies against all forms of violence against women, training for key agencies in how to improve their response to violence against women, the development of minimum standards for policies and action in all key government agencies, and the integration into all relevant government agendas of policies to end violence against women. This report is based on responses received from all government departments to a letter sent in January 2006, requesting a description of their efforts to address violence against women. 114 notes