Don't withhold support from sexual assault survivors

  • van: Frances D
  • ontvanger: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA), The Ministry of Justice (MoJ), United Kingdom

Hundreds of survivors of sexual violence in the UK have had state support withheld due to unrelated criminal convictions, according to a shock report by the Independent. Financial compensation helps survivors to access therapy and live safely following their attacks. But help is being withheld from survivors with criminal records, including those with offences as minor as an unpaid TV licence.

One survivor who had been raped by a minicab driver told the Independent that she had her compensation reduced by 30% because of a drink-driving offence that happened a year after the rape, when she had been too afraid to get into another taxi. "It was another knock down," she said. "How does that relate to what happened to me a year before?"

Criminal convictions do not change the trauma or resultant needs of a survivor. Survivors of sexual violence should be given compensation to help rebuild their lives regardless of any criminal convictions. To further punish survivors through witholding help is a sickening injustice. And yet the Ministry of Justice told the Independent it does not intend to change the current system.

Please sign and demand that survivors of sexual violence are not penalised for convictions, but are compensated in accordance with their needs as survivors. If enough people sign this petition, we can raise public awareness, and push for the system to be overhauled. 

The Ministry of Justice:


A shocking report by the Independent newspaper has revealed that survivors of sexual violence with criminal convictions are having their financial compensation reduced or denied to them by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.


There is no justification for this further punishment of crimes which are unrelated to needs of the individual as a survivor. As such the compensation system requires immediate overhaul.


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