Greens: Better responses needed to violence against women
More should be done to meet the needs of women who report violence, the Scottish Greens have said.
At First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Greens equalities spokesperson Maggie Chapman MSP raised a report from Rape Crisis Scotland, which highlights how survivors found a poor police response to them reporting sexual crimes.
This comes after reports of sexual crimes and domestic abuse rose last year.
Maggie Chapman said: “Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women yet sexism and misogyny remains entrenched in our society.
“The RCS Survivor Reference Group report reveals concerns about how these reports are dealt with by police. It makes it clear how important understanding and awareness of trauma is both for justice and for recovery. It also makes clear that survivors of colour or those from different cultural backgrounds are least able to access justice.
“We need to improve the way police respond to women who experience violence, and do all we can to ensure our criminal justice system does not prevent minorities and marginalised women in particular from being given fair and equal access to pursue criminal justice.”