What life is like

There is, and always will be, a struggle with the stigma of being involved with the justice system. People gossip and others read things online and in the news such as your address and details about your case. You feel like you have no privacy therefore and are being judged by everyone. Neighbours can be the worst and get involved in business that isn't theirs making the situation worse. Stigma also comes from the professionals, who often judge you based on paperwork and reports and create assumptions based on these before meeting us and taking the chance to talk to us. Housing can be a nightmare too, as private lets often discriminate against people with a history of involvement with the police, again judging us unfairly. It's really difficult on our families, especially if we’ve got children, constantly feeling under the microscope and patronised about how we parent our kids.

It takes a big toll on your mental health. It's a really stressful situation to be in and there’s lots of anxiety caused by upcoming court dates, check-ins with social workers etc. Often there are many appointments with professionals we need to attend, e.g.housing, social work, court dates, solicitors. These are sometimes given at short notice or are rescheduled at the last minute and appointments can be spread in different areas and hard to get to due to transport etc. Having a job with a changing shift pattern makes this challenging too. Often you feel like you are being passed around different people which can feel invasive as you don't know who they are.

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Not all engagement with professionals is negative though, as many have good contacts and can refer us to the appropriate services and people that we didn’t know existed who offer support, such as the women's hubs, which we would miss out on if we didn't have that engagement with the justice system.

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