POSTED BY Sue Tapply IN Featured, Society ON Dec 12, 2014

Police close domestic abuse gap

There is new support available. Domestic violence protection orders (DVPOs) are now in force across England and Wales following the successful conclusion of a 1-year pilot in the West Mercia, Wiltshire and Greater Manchester police force areas. DVPOs are a new power available to police officers, who can apply for this protective legislation if they believe a perpetrator will continue to be violent towards a victim. When officers are called to a domestic incident and there is evidence a...

POSTED BY Katie Higgins IN Featured ON Nov 25, 2014

The war on drugs is killing women

Call to confront the prevalence of drugs in the UK in a practical and realistic way. In July 2013, 15 year old Martha Fernback died after taking half a gram of MDMA powder – more widely known as ecstacy – that was 91 per cent pure. Her death differs from the thousands of other drug-related deaths that occurred in the same year, because of her mother Anne-Marie Cockburn’s unusual response. Martha wanted to get high, said Cockburn, not die – but the war on drugs killed...

POSTED BY Sue Tapply IN Campaigns, Featured ON Sep 18, 2013

Counting dead women

Karen Ingala Smith highlights the reality of cultural femicide. Many people know the statistic: ‘two women in England and Wales a week are killed through domestic violence'; but how many try to connect with that and to feel the impact of what it really means? In the first three days of January 2012, seven women in the UK were murdered by men: three were shot, two were strangled, one was stabbed and one was killed by fifteen blunt force trauma injuries. As a result, Karen Ingala Smith...