Rhianon Bragg, who was stalked and held hostage at gunpoint by her ex-partner, said critical questions remained unanswered. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Rhianon Bragg, who was stalked and held hostage at gunpoint by her ex-partner, said critical questions remained unanswered. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian UK criminal justice Survivors of violent crime criticise MoJ for not explaining offender restriction zones Campaigners accuse ministers of trying to grab headlines with announcement before a working system is ready
Prefer the Guardian on Google Survivors of violent crime and families of victims have criticised the UK government for announcing “world first” plans to introduce restriction zones for serious offenders freed from prison within a few weeks without spelling out how they would work.
Key campaigners who have championed the idea of the zones , designed to “lock” offenders into specific areas, accused the government of seeking to grab headlines rather than providing the detail that would reassure survivors and families.
Rhianon Bragg, who has become a leading campaigner on domestic violence after she was stalked and held hostage at gunpoint by her ex-partner, said she was concerned that the announcement had come before a working system was ready.
She said: “Victims can’t rely on headlines. I can’t imagine how anxious victims whose offenders may be being released are feeling right now. The announcement leaves critical questions unanswered.”
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said at the weekend that restriction zones would be introduced in October in England and Wales and would mean serious sexual and violent offenders could be confined to areas of a few miles.
Offenders would be tagged to keep tabs on their movement and victims would have a say in setting boundaries.
The MoJ said it was the first measure of its kind in the world and was a “more rigorous” version of “exclusion zones”, which ban offenders from specific locations such as a victim’s home or place of work.
Bragg said she and fellow campaigners wanted more detail on which offenders would be included, how zones would be implemented, what would happen if an offender left their zone and whether agencies such as the Probation Service and the police had the capacity to manage the system.
Announcing the scheme, the justice secretary, Alex Norris, said no victim should “fear the shadow of an abuser”.
Bragg said: “Speaking from my own lived experience, if that is to be achieved then restriction zones need to be the other side of the country from the area the victim is in.”
Bragg and fellow campaigners wrote to the government before the parliamentary recess asking for a meeting so that specifics could be discussed, but it has not taken place. She said: “We need more transparency. If the system’s not ready, victims will be put at risk.”
The campaigner Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, whose best friend, Joanna Simpson, was killed by Simpson’s estranged husband , said: “A headline doesn’t help victims one jot. The lack of detail is a huge issue.
“We have been asking them for two months to meet with us to discuss how they are going to implement it and which offenders are going to be eligible.
“You’ve got thousands of victims out there today who are utterly terrified at a visceral level of their offenders coming out of prison and they don’t know if their offender is going to be subject to restriction zones or not.
“It creates…