Our work on Sexual Violence

 Bristol Fawcett has worked with others for several years to improve local services for women affected by sexual violence. In 2006 Bristol Fawcett led a demonstration on College Green about the lack of a rape crisis centre in Bristol.  There has since been significant local improvement in attention given to sexual violence.  Bristol Fawcett inputs into the Safer Bristol Partnership’s Rape and Sexual Assault Strategic Group as well being involved with the development of Bristol’s SARC (sexual assault referral centre: The Bridge) which opened in 2008.  We also took part in the successful campaign for the development of a Rape Crisis Centre for Bristol which opened in 2009.  We work with local agencies such as the Safer Bristol Partnership and Avon & Somerset Police who are committed to tackling sexual violence in the region, and have helped develop Bristol's Strategy to tackle Rape and Sexual Assault.

To find out more about recent local events and initiatives concerning sexual violence, click here.  See also our pages on trafficking.

If you would like to receive information about our work or events connected with violence against women, please join our contacts database.  If you would like to get involved with Rape Crisis Bristol, please email info@bristolrapecrisis.org.uk for more details. 

We recently wrote to Stephen Williams MP about the nature of training provision by the CPS for its specialist rape prosecutors.  He passed our concerns on to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kier Starmer QC who wrote back in December 2008 to reassure us that specialist training for rape prosecutors involves face-to-face learning about the effects of rape, including rape trauma syndrome, and includes work on tackling rape myths and stereotypes as well as the importance of focussing on and supporting victims.  View the full response here.