Overview
- The Crown Prosecution Service unveiled a 2025–2030 strategy to ensure charges capture the full pattern of offending across violence against women and girls.
- New CPS data show major overlaps with domestic abuse: 35.1% of rape charges, 92.4% of strangulation, 93.5% of honour‑based abuse, 82.8% of stalking, 85.6% of image‑based abuse and 69.4% of harassment; 11.1% of coercive control cases were flagged as relating to rape.
- The strategy commits to staff training, updated guidance on areas such as stalking, forced marriage and FGM, embedding academic research, a stalking action plan, pre‑trial meetings for adult sexual‑offence victims and dedicated victim liaison officers in RASSO units.
- CPS leaders highlighted recent victim‑support steps including video guides to special measures and new Victim Service Standards, with officials stressing better communication to rebuild trust.
- Officials cautioned that a record crown court backlog of more than 78,000 cases will hinder timeliness, as regional rollout begins with CPS South East citing a 77.1% conviction rate in domestic‑abuse‑flagged cases and rising charges for strangulation, stalking and coercive control.