Survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence sought for research study into criminal justice experiences

Have you experienced violence or abuse from a partner or family member, or rape or sexual assault from anyone?

We are researchers based at the Open University looking at domestic abuse and sexual violence survivors’ engagement with the criminal justice system. Led by Dr Lis Bates, our project investigates what motivates survivors of domestic abuse and rape or sexual assault to report (or not report) their experiences to the police and what they want from the police and criminal justice system.

The study purpose is to improve police and criminal justice responses for survivors of domestic abuse and rape/sexual assault. We believe this work can have a direct impact to help other survivors, and your voice can be an important part of that.

We want to hear from women and men over 18 who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse and/or sexual violence since 2019 and have interacted with the police about these experiences.

We are inviting around 50 survivors to take part in a confidential, one-to-one interview with a member of the research team. All our researchers are experts in researching domestic abuse and sexual violence with considerable experience of speaking to survivors with confidentiality and sensitivity.

Your involvement is completely voluntary, and confidential and you have the right to withdraw at any time. The date and time of interviews will be arranged to suit you. Interviews will take place via phone or secure audio/video conferencing technology (Microsoft Teams or Skype) which you will be sent a link to join. If preferred and in line with Covid rules, an in-person interview may be arranged. You will be given a £15 ‘thank you’ voucher in recognition of your time on completion of interview. You will be asked to provide a safe address to send the voucher to you.

To find out more about taking part, please email the research team on: VE-STUDY@open.ac.uk giving safe contact details (email and/or telephone number) to reach you on. If there are any days or times it would be unsafe to contact you, please give these in your email. The team will only speak with you – if anyone else answers the phone we will not disclose the reason for the call and will close the call with an excuse.

Lis Bates and The Research Team, The Open University