[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f1g5rga8p2v6nh":3,"$f10b3rz2z388kj":17},{"id":4,"author_id":5,"category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":8,"slug":9,"content":10,"link_text":6,"link":6,"content_overview":6,"published_at":11,"seo_title":12,"seo_description":12,"image":13,"attachment":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16},"01m1y1yk6gxyknhn8g0y7red23","9cdbdd6d-4900-4646-a012-d3e67a5ee788",null,0,"Improving Protections in the Justice System for Women and Girls ","aberlours-response-to-the-scottish-governments-consultation-on-improving-protections-in-the-justice-system-for-women-and-girls","\u003Cp>Together with the mums we support, Aberlour responded to the Scottish Government's consultation on improving protections for women and girls in the justice system. Vast improvements are still needed to ensure every woman and child in Scotland can access justice, safety and recovery from violence and abuse. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our response draws on real experiences shared by the mothers and families we work with every day, alongside our frontline staff's knowledge. Below are five of the key areas we focused on. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Non-fatal strangulation \u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Non-fatal strangulation is commonly used as a tactic of domestic abuse. It can leave deep and lasting psychological harm that persists long after physical injuries have healed, and it is becoming more normalised through the easy availability of violent pornography. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\"I experienced strangulation 7 years ago but my partner wasn't charged. He went on to abuse another woman which resulted in me being asked to relive my past and give police more information. 7 years is a long time to have to relive the past and get justice.\"  \u003Cbr>\u003Cem>- Woman supported by Aberlour \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Our call: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Victims must be supported to disclose, and cases understood as a serious and dangerous form of abuse. Where strangulation happens within a domestic abuse relationship, it should be captured as a course of conduct behaviour under the \u003Ca title=\"Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.legislation.gov.uk\u002Fasp\u002F2018\u002F5\u002Fcontents\">Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018\u003C\u002Fa>, not minimised as an isolated incident. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Spiking \u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Aberlour is concerned about the prevalence of spiking within abusive relationships, and the challenges women face recognising and reporting it when it happens. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\"In a bar environment you have staff and cameras and witnesses who can say they were fine one moment and not the next. But when it was me, you just have yourself and your doubts. How do you take that to the police?\" \u003Cbr>\u003Cem>- Woman supported by Aberlour \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Our call:\u003C\u002Fstrong> We're urging the Scottish Government to raise public awareness of spiking in intimate relationships, provide trauma-informed support for victims, and ensure the laws and justice system around this issue are robust. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Offences against pregnant women \u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Coercive control and domestic abuse often begin or escalate during pregnancy, yet current law does not sufficiently reflect the risk and harm to pregnant women and babies. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\"The charges are being minimised. If a pregnant woman is pushed downstairs, as I was, we could lose our child. That's attempted murder, not a breach of the peace. I know firsthand what it does to you emotionally and mentally, and you don't just come back from it.\" \u003Cbr>\u003Cem>- Woman supported by Aberlour \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Our call: \u003C\u002Fstrong>We support requiring courts to treat pregnancy as a formal aggravating factor when sentencing domestic abuse offences, including the broader impact of verbal, emotional and psychological abuse experienced by many pregnant women. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Non-harassment orders \u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>The current system around non-harassment orders (NHOs) is incoherent. It is failing to keep women and children safe due to inconsistent application and a lack of consequences when orders are breached. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\"The system says if you don't leave an abusive relationship then they will take your kids. But if you leave, they give the abuser room to abuse you more.\"- \u003Cbr>\u003Cem>- Woman supported by Aberlour \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Our call: \u003C\u002Fstrong>The Scottish Government must address the serious shortcomings of the existing NHO system and restore confidence in it before any further changes take place. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Online and tech-facilitated harm \u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>Digital abuse of women is rising fast. Perpetrators of domestic abuse often use multiple and creative digital methods to stalk, monitor, harass, threaten, humiliate and control women and children. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\"I experienced digital stalking and harassment from my ex-partner, who took control of my accounts and threatened revenge porn. I wish I was supported through education about these types of abuse. The onus was on me to report crimes and detail them without knowing what I was experiencing at the time.\"  \u003Cbr>\u003Cem>- Woman supported by Aberlour \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Our call: \u003C\u002Fstrong>Alongside more resourcing and better education, we believe the Scottish Government's strongest lever is introducing regulatory duties on tech platforms themselves, in line with \u003Ca title=\"Violence against women and girls (VAWG) - Equally Safe strategy\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.gov.scot\u002Fpolicies\u002Fviolence-against-women-and-girls\u002Fequally-safe-strategy\u002F\">Equally Safe\u003C\u002Fa>, to ensure human rights are upheld in Scotland. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2>Read our full response \u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp>These five areas are only part of a wider response covering everything from prosecutorial powers over non-harassment orders to intimate image abuse and children's rights within the justice system. Our full submission reflects the direct experiences and views of mothers supported by Aberlour's domestic abuse services, and the frontline staff working alongside them. \u003C\u002Fp>","2026-08-31 14:46:30","Aberlour Children's Charity's response to the Scottish Government's consultation on improving protections in the Justice system for women and girls","media\u002F01M1Y1YK0CGFHQ1R692Z2QDTDN.jpg","docs\u002FAberlour improving protections in the justice system for women and girls consultation response .pdf","2026-09-07T13:47:01.000000Z","2026-09-16T15:08:02.000000Z",{"id":18,"blog_author_id":5,"blog_category_id":19,"is_featured":20,"title":21,"slug":22,"content":23,"content_overview":6,"published_at":24,"seo_title":21,"seo_description":25,"image":26,"created_at":27,"updated_at":27},"01m45vtvk0pdb1y7c1cqv76edp","1",false,"Panic and Promises Won't End Child Poverty","panic-and-promises-wont-end-child-poverty","\u003Cp>We live in a world that seems to spin faster every day, where all the dials are turned to 11 all the time.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The headlines crash from one calamity to another as our political leaders rush to promise emergency action while their opponents demand even more urgency. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is noisy, tiring and a few hours later, when the news cycle spins to another red alert, the last one, whatever it was, is most often forgotten. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For years now, child poverty in Scotland has been routinely described as a national emergency demanding emergency action. It is and it does but, with more than one in five children still growing up in poverty in Scotland today, is it time to ask if the language of emergency and crisis is helping?  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps it only encourages more haste but less speed, a birling carousel of taskforces and committees, policy papers and special reports, but too little measured and impactful action? Are we even checking if the blizzard of promises and commitments is being delivered before starting the snow machine again? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What if the endless planning and process is actually slowing us down? What if somehow all the talk is delaying implementation of practical, tested, and effective measures to improve the lives and secure the life chances of the 210,000 children growing up poor in one of the wealthiest countries in the world? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because we already know what works. We have known for years.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there are no magic bullets, no simple solutions to the complex social issues that have blighted our poorest communities for decades. Child poverty, like Scotland’s drugs crisis, another national emergency, is embedded in longstanding economic trends that have stripped far too many of our neighbourhoods of jobs and hope. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those trends will not be reversed overnight but, in the meantime, we should not let perfect be the enemy of good. As Challenge Poverty Week begins today, the biggest challenge is to see the wood not the trees, to recognise and appreciate what is already working and build on it. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are things that we know ease the impact of poverty on young lives; that have been trialled, tested and measured; that inch their families from peril to safety; that give them new strength, confidence and a path to a more secure future. So why not have more of them? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These are services that our charity and others are delivering every day, hand in glove with our partners in social work, health care and education. These are services delivering real, measurable success, making children safer, healthier and happier today and improving their chances tomorrow. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intensive family support, for example. The clue is in the name. It is the opposite of easy. Any family’s journey back from the very edge of crisis is one of hard yards and no shortcuts. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our teams arrive to work, shoulder to shoulder, with families on the point of collapse, with children often on the edge of care. Ensuring those babies and young people are safe is always the priority but, after that, keeping them with their families is the driving force because that, all research suggests, is the best way to stabilise childhoods and secure futures. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intensive family support means doing whatever it takes to keep children safe and families together. It can rebuild broken relationships; improve parents’ confidence in themselves; create new connections in communities; and help build firmer financial foundations with advice on welfare rights, maximising incomes and problem debt. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Any investment in intensive family support and other specialist services, for pregnant women and new mums, for example, is more than returned in thriving families, stronger communities and money saved. Resource is better spent on intensive support keeping families safely together, than managing their separation through a lifetime of crisis-led state intervention.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our two Mother and Child Recovery Houses, in Falkirk and Dundee, for example, offer recovery spaces for pregnant and new mums with a history of substance use, allowing them to recover while staying safely with their babies. This helps keep families together and children at home, improves their futures and saves millions of pounds in avoided care costs. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is true child protection and the big question is not whether we can afford to roll out these services across Scotland but if we can afford not to?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Justina Murray \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>\u003Cstrong>Chief executive of Aberlour Children’s Charity \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem>This article was written for the Daily Record and published on Monday 5th October 2026.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>","2026-10-05T00:00:00.000000Z","Aberlour Children's Charity CEO, Justina Murray, explains what must be done to end child poverty in Scotland. We know what works and we've known for years. ","media\u002FRS873_0E5A9135.jpg","2026-10-05T11:05:26.000000Z"]