A new assessment from the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection (NCVPP) has highlighted the significant role that repeat perpetrators play in violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences across England and Wales.
The Strategic Threat Risk Assessment (STRA), which provides a national picture of the threats facing women and girls, found that repeat perpetrators are linked to at least a quarter of VAWG offences. The findings are intended to help policing and partner organisations better understand patterns of offending and target interventions where they can have the greatest impact.
From our own Revenge Porn Helpline, many of the findings reflect trends that have been emerging for several years, particularly the increasing overlap between online and offline forms of harm with instances of NCII, growing year on year.
The Growing Role of Technology in Abuse
The STRA recognises that technology is increasingly shaping the way abuse occurs with online abuse, sexual extortion, intimate image abuse and emerging AI-enabled harms becoming more prominent within the broader VAWG landscape.
Rather than existing as separate forms of offending, online and offline harms are often closely connected with harms such as intimate image abuse occurring alongside other forms of abuse such as coercive control, harassment, stalking or domestic abuse. Because of this, effective responses towards VAWG require close collaboration between policing and support services.
Improved Reporting Pathways
To help address barriers to reporting, the Revenge Porn Helpline has supported the development of a reporting function with police forces that enables individuals experiencing intimate image abuse to access specialist support while also facilitating reports towards the police.
This approach aims to ensure that those who are experiencing harm can receive practical and emotional support immediately, through a single report, whilst improving opportunities for police to identify patterns of offending and respond appropriately. The Helpline will also be able to supply crucial evidence to policing to support investigation and prosecution.
Sophie Mortimer, Head of Support Services at SWGfL and Lead of the Revenge Porn Helpline, said:
"This assessment highlights how online harms are increasingly intertwined with offline violence against women and girls. That's why the new reporting function between the Revenge Porn Helpline and the police is so important, helping to remove barriers to reporting while ensuring specialist support remains at the centre of the process. This is exactly the kind of collaborative approach needed to tackle abuse and hold perpetrators accountable."
A Shared Approach to Prevention and Protection
Alongside the work of the NCVPP, the publication of the STRA provides a stronger evidence base for organisations working to address violence against women and girls.
The assessment highlights the need for coordinated approaches that combine prevention, safeguarding, victim support and perpetrator management. For the Revenge Porn Helpline, the findings reinforce the importance of ensuring that victims of intimate image abuse can access the specialist support they need in the most accessible way.
