'Barrister Strikes: A Sexual Violence Survivor’s Perspective' - Mehvish Khan

'Barrister Strikes: A Sexual Violence Survivor’s Perspective' - Mehvish Khan

TW: this article contains mentions of child sexual abuse and sexual violence.

When I first reported the sexual abuse I had experienced to the police, several years after its occurrence, the case was referred to the wrong force and therefore my statement was given incorrectly. This was the first in what was to be a long line of police and CPS blunders.

When we were finally put in touch with the correct police officers, I was informed that the case against the person I had reported had been ongoing since 2018 and it would be referred to the CPS by the end of the year. This was at the start of 2020, and since then, no advancements made. CPS has turned the case away multiple times, each time asking for new evidence, including “expert opinions” as to whether or not the sexual abuse was part of how a child would be trained for a sport. The case was most recently referred to them in October 2021. I have not heard back from them yet regarding a decision to charge.

Given this, it’s understandable that I and others in similar positions may be frustrated by the criminal barrister strikes. “Court ‘chaos’ seeing criminals go free, victims’ commissioner warns, as barristers strike” declares the Telegraph, making clear that the barristers are at fault for a legal system that is largely ineffective. It seems to further prolong the agonising wait that victims are expected to put up with when pursuing justice. However, my case has not yet even been seen by a criminal barrister. It is the CPS and police forces involved that have stagnated the process to the point that it has become traumatic to engage with.

In another separate case of sexual violence that I reported, I did not hear back from the Met until I called 101, three months after giving a video statement. When I asked what steps had been taken to investigate during these three months, the officer admitted that he had not yet even watched the video statement and had not attempted to contact me because of an “admin error.”

Yet it is the barrister strikes that somehow slowed this down!

The reality is that these barristers are working within a broken legal system. The CPS as an organisation lacks empathy for victims, especially those of sexual and domestic violence. They communicate poorly, usually relying on underfunded and often apathetic police forces to relay messages to victims, leaving substantial delays between any decision being made and the victim being made aware. Their standard of evidence is harsh and unsympathetic to the traumatic experiences some may have. One reason the CPS requested further evidence in my case is because they wanted to know what kind of bra I was wearing when I experienced sexual abuse at age twelve. By the time any case reaches a barrister’s desk, victims have usually had to wait years for any hope of justice and suffered constant anxiety due to the often unnecessary prolonging of charging decisions.

It seems that most will agree that there are serious flaws within the legal system that consistently fail those who hope to obtain justice. However, criminal barristers’ strikes seem to have become the latest scapegoat for those who can, but do not wish to, resolve the issues. Rather than address the CPS’s multiple failures or the disproportionate number of domestic abusers in police forces, it’s much easier to blame those fighting for their right to earn a wage: the barristers. The CPS’s failures often fall to the barristers to deal with; the constant backlog of cases waiting to be heard leads to them being overworked and underpaid. Numbers of solicitors are falling and poor working conditions, along with an increase to legal aid fees being less than inflation, means that fewer lawyers are willing to enter and remain in the profession. The government’s refusal to ensure that one of the most integral parts of the legal system is justly paid continues to contribute to the backlog that has caused so many issues in the first place.

Of course, as a survivor of sexual violence I support the strikes. It may prolong the time until I can find justice, but I doubt that it would be by much longer than the CPS’s inability to deliver it. Instead, if the strikes are successful and the government yields to barristers’ demands, barristers may be able to begin to chip away at the CPS-created backlog with the help of better working conditions, higher pay, and new lawyers. After all, the barristers seem to be the few who are actively fighting for change within the legal system rather than being bound by the same inertia that is depriving so many victims of the relief of justice and the closing of their cases. The legal system is failing everyone who engages with it; those who seek justice from it and those who serve it. Condemning those who are failed by the same institutions that I have been because they are fighting for better working conditions ignores the real issue of apathy within the government and the CPS towards the working and vulnerable population. Don’t blame the barristers for delaying survivors’ fights for justice; blame all those who’ve perverted our legal system.

[Mehvish Khan is a first year PPEist at Somerville College.]