The Criminal Justice System is Failing Survivors of Domestic Abuse and Male Violence
Posted by THISURI PERERA 5 June 2025
The proportion of female prisoners within the Criminal Justice System in the UK has always been a low percentage. As of June 2022, according to the UK government, women comprised only 4% of the prison population, and nearly a fifth of them were serving sentences shorter than 12 months. 1
These low statistics are reassuring at first, but once we start dissecting the treatment of women in the court and legal system, it isn’t difficult to identify major disadvantages and injustices. The regulations and policies around the Criminal Justice System tend to follow a one-fits-for-all approach, far too often discarding the additional struggles faced by women both during the process of prosecution, as well as within the prison environment.
This failure to take into consideration the female position within the CJS is tightly linked to their increasingly high reoffending rate.
The New Birbeck report, published earlier this year, reported that the number of women and girls in prisons across the world has increased at a considerably higher rate compared to male prisoners 2. The reason behind this exponential rise can be explained by the treatment of women both before and after incarceration and should therefore serve as a wake-up call to amend a system that continuously fails more and more women every year.
It is undoubtedly clear that female prisoners are incarcerated for far less serious offences in comparison to men. However, this disparity is not always mirrored in the punishment they receive as women tend to be penalised more harshly and prosecuted much more quickly, often a disproportionate treatment when compared to the severity of the crime committed. In 2021, three out of four individuals prosecuted for TV license evasion in the UK were female, which also comprised almost a fifth of all female prosecutions 3.
|“Being in prison for all that time I’ve met so many women in prison who go through similar things I went through, some even worse. I wasn’t the first and I probably won’t be the last.” - Fareissa Martin |
Prison sentences for less serious crimes have nearly always proved to be counterproductive, especially when these sentences are only 12 months long, if not shorter. Although prison is meant to act as a space of rehabilitation as well as punishment, people of all genders struggle to build a healthy and fulfilling life after incarceration. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable after being released, as many studies show how they often have no other choice but to return to the same habits and environments that led to breaking the law in the first place. A bigger emphasis should therefore be exerted on alternative forms of sanctions for offenders that do not comprise a danger for the wider society, examples being community service, fines, and drug or alcohol treatment programmes.
Besides treating women more harshly for non-serious offences, the CJS equally persists in failing those who commit crimes because of long-term abuse, domestic violence, and/or coercion. A report published in 2017 by the Prison Reform Trust denounces how “Women in prison have often been victims of much more serious offences than those of which they have been convicted”4. An alarming statement when considering in unison with the most recent UK figures of domestic violence and sexual abuse, both nationally and within the country’s prison population.
Based on statistics published by Refuge, the police receive a call related to abuse every 30 seconds, even if approximately less than a quarter of domestic violence crimes are reported. Even more strikingly, it is estimated that 25% of women in England and Wales will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime 5.
Not only are women at a higher risk of being victims of emotional, physical, and sexual violence, but they are also consistently disregarded and not rightfully treated as victims of abuse by those in charge of protecting and helping them. The Criminal Justice System is one of the primary systems failing female survivors, punishing instead of supporting, and in this way, further contributing to the harm caused. According to the Ann Craft Trust, 63% of girls and young women (between the age of 16 and 24) who are currently serving a sentence, have been victim of rape or domestic abuse in an intimate relationship. It is also estimated that more than half of the female prison population, as well as women under community supervision, are victims of domestic violence; the real percentage is likely to be much higher 6. There is in fact a clear and direct link between the experience of abuse and the likelihood of offending. The Corston Report, published nearly two decades ago, emphasised how male coercion is in fact a major contributor to many crimes committed by women 7. This remains accurate and relevant today.
The story of Fareissa Martin is a real-life example of the lack of empathy and real support for victims and survivors of male violence. In 2015, the 22 years old young mother Fareissa Martin was given a life sentence of minimum 13 years for the murder of her abusive partner, Kyle Farrell. The couple knew each other from childhood and started dating at the age of 16. It was almost immediately an abusive and turbulent relationship and Fareissa was fearful for her own life due to Kyle’s violence. During the initial trial, neither history of domestic violence nor of mental health was taken into account, and only after serving 6 years in prison, did the court hear Fareissa’s appeal as new evidence was discovered proving her account of domestic violence. A re-trial was however denied, merely allowing her to plead guilty to manslaughter and a 10-year prison sentence. Fareissa Martin was released in December 2021, her story shed light on the constant blindness to survivors of male violence.
“My first legal team were all male. I don’t believe they were bothered about what I’d gone through, so the domestic violence was never really… they never really brought it up. It was uncomfortable speaking to men especially. I felt like they weren’t interested in anything I had to say about the domestic violence. Any time I tried to bring it up it was kind of, I feel like, brushed off”8 Fareissa expressed regarding her experience within the court and legal system.
It is time for the CJS to stop criminalising survivors, and redirect resources and attention towards prevention of abuse and support for those who survive, rather than discarding these traumas from the decision made in court.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/women-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2021/women-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2021
https://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/new-birkbeck-report-reveals-female-prison-population-growing-faster-than-male-population-worldwide#:~:text=New%20Birkbeck%20report%20reveals%20female%20prison%20population%20growing%20faster%20than%20male%20population%20worldwide,-12%20February%202025&text=There%20are%20currently%20over%20733%2C000,than%20that%20of%20male%20prisoners.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/women-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2021/women-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2021
https://womeninprison.org.uk/campaigns/stop-punishing-domestic-abuse-survivors
https://refuge.org.uk/what-is-domestic-abuse/the-facts/
https://www.anncrafttrust.org/unfair-and-unjust-how-women-subjected-to-domestic-abuse-and-violence-are-being-criminalised/
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130128112038/http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/corston-report-march-2007.pdf