Well that was interesting. She refuses to acknowledge that a lot of her critisms come from the left. I am interested in alternatives to prison for violence against women and girls but I don’t think she has any real answers to this either other than restorative justice which is just another opportunity to enable the abuser to abuse you. My ex did not get charged with any of the crimes against me but going to the police helped protect my child (a baby at the time).
She linked on reader who asked her for alternatives to imprisonment to this website which has a mixture of useful points and really harmful ideas.
transformharm.org/
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The only way to be safe is for the victims (and children who have witnessed abuse are also victims) to be separated from the abuser. One article talked about how separating the abuser from the victim by imprisonment is bad and how the victim wanted to maintain a relationship with her boyfriend and that she should have been supported to do that. He could have gone on an abuse issue awareness course. Well ok but there is no evidence that this is actually effective and some evidence that this is can actually make the abuse worse.
One of the most googled phrases during lockdown is how can I control my girlfriend. Imagine sending a guy like that on a course with other abusers. Another concern with these kinds of programs is that they give abusers unsafe access to their children as they are low risk as they have been on a course.
There were some very good points made about enabling victims to leave their abuser by providing them with financial support. I am not entitled to universal credit as I had to leave a house that I own. But this needs to happen in addition to legal action and this is something that mainstream abuse services are actively campaigning for.