Challenging the unjust criminalisation of women and girls who offend due to domestic abuse.

Olwyn Foundation is delighted to announce its support for Centre for Women’s Justice, a feminist legal charity widely recognised as a centre of excellence in its field. Olwyn will be supporting the CWJ in its pursuit of legal reform and improving criminal defence practice in cases where women have offended due to domestic abuse. Our joint aim is to hold the state to account and challenge discrimination in the criminal justice system around violence against women and girls.

A large majority of women who offend or are in prison are victims of domestic abuse. Many have been driven to offend as a direct result of their abuse. Current legal practices and defences often fail to protect survivors from prosecution or conviction when they are driven to offend.

Centre for Women’s Justice has been at the forefront of challenging convictions of women who have killed their abusive partner while subject to coercive control and other forms of domestic violence. Together we hope to challenge the unjust criminalisation of women for a wide range of offences driven by their experience of domestic abuse.