Submissions to Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce reveal systemic and community failure

Submissions to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce have revealed a system and community that is failing abused women.

As a result, most sexual assault cases are never reported, and of those that are, it is rare that charges result in a conviction, the taskforce said in a statement.

It has received 304 submissions from victims, accused persons, offenders, support organisations, academics and government agencies, after publishing a discussion paper in February.

Of those, 59 were from support and advocacy organisations, legal stakeholders, academics and government agencies, 122 were from people with lived experience of sexual assault, or as accused persons or offenders, and 125 were general submissions from people with lived experience of sexual violence.

People think ‘you’ve made it up’

One woman said in her submission that support for victims was “lacklustre”.

“There is not enough support for survivors. There never has been and never will be,” she said.

She said the current system forces women to relive the trauma of their past.

“I wish to live in a world where women could report sexual assaults without fear — fear of judgement, fear of people thinking they ‘made it up’, fear of people siding with the perpetrator, fear of all the accusations of ‘exaggeration, false reporting, etc’,” she said in her submission.

“Most of all, the trauma that goes with going to trial and the horrific [experience] of having to go through reliving it all as you are required to tell your story over [again] to the courts to be judged and ridiculed.”

‘Openly doubted my story’

Another woman said she was turned away after suffering an assault at age 15.

“That first point of contact needs to be revised … [it should be] someone trained in sexual assault,” she said in her submission.

She said she was discouraged from giving a statement at a police station.

“I was shown through a fellow victim’s interview window and explained how hard the process was and that it often wasn’t worth it,” she wrote.

“I never had my day in court to represent myself. I wish I had the correct support at the station and encouragement to move forward.”

One woman said that after being sexually assaulted by two men, male police officers had openly doubted her story, telling her she “wasn’t the kind of woman who gets assaulted”.

Former Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo, who heads the taskforce, said there are roadblocks at every turn to successful outcomes for sexual assault victims.

“Most don’t report what has happened and for the brave few who do, they often feel they are not taken seriously or treated as if they are the suspect and blamed and disbelieved,” she said.

“For far too many, the criminal justice process is slow, confusing and re-traumatising – many victims find it too much and give up.”

Most women in custody have suffered abuse

The taskforce said it found women and girls who are charged with criminal offences are almost all victims of domestic and family, sexual or other physical violence – or in many cases all three.

Many feel that their experiences of abuse and trauma are not taken into account by the criminal justice system.

“Addressing this issue may help stop women and girls offending in the first place and prevent reoffending.”