Safety and Justice for Victims of Abuse

 

Supports people who experience domestic abuse, sexual violence and exploitation and child abuse.

People affected by these crimes experience long-term social, emotional, psychological and economic impacts. The crimes share low reporting levels, high rates of cases ‘dropping out’ of the criminal justice system, and high levels of repeat victimisation. Many victims do not report a case for fear of further abuse, or because they think they will not be believed or taken seriously. They may also be prevented from getting the help they need because of the myths and misunderstanding that surround the issues. Some victims will experience abuse in several ways – for example, women forced into prostitution by abusive partners. The Foundation has invested in organisations that can help:

  • reduce the incidence of these crimes;
  • reduce their impact on victims and their families;
  • reduce repeat victimisation;
  • increase the number of cases going through the criminal justice system.

These are ambitious goals, and our investments have always been part of a much bigger picture. Our contribution has been to increase the availability of services to victims, to improve the quality and impact of organisations’ work, to improve communication and sharing of good practice in the field and to lever in other statutory and charitable resources.

The prevalence of these crimes means that victims will be present amongst most organisations’ user groups. However, in this programme we have focused on funding specialist work which specifically targets these victims. If would like to know more about the work funded through this programme, please contact the Programme Manager, Cullagh Warnock.

We have supported a number of pieces of research through the Programme which can be found in the Publications section of this website or by clicking here.

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