STORY
Women’s Aid has warned that new restriction zones for offenders could give victims a false sense of security unless they are backed by effective monitoring and properly resourced probation and police services. The charity said it supported measures which restrict the freedoms of offenders but cautioned that the zones should never be used as an alternative to an appropriate prison sentence.
The new powers allow offenders to be required to remain within specified geographical areas, with restriction zones available as part of community and suspended sentences and as licence conditions following release from prison. The Government has said the approach is intended to place restrictions on offenders rather than victims, with electronic monitoring used to identify breaches. Under wider sentencing reforms, restriction zones can be imposed alongside measures including bans from pubs, public events and driving.
Ellie Daniel, Head of Policy and Survivor Services at Women’s Aid, said effective use of the zones would require robust risk assessments involving victims and specialist support services. She warned that probation services were already stretched and that police responses to breaches would not necessarily be immediate, meaning monitoring could record a breach without preventing it. Women’s Aid said inadequate safeguards could have potentially fatal consequences and called for wider changes to the criminal justice system if the Government is to meet its commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.