: #SheWasJustWalkingHome: Women’s responses to the killing of Sarah Everard

• In Event: Responding to Gender Based Violence: Challenges, Solutions, and Lessons Learned

Abstract

On the evening of 3 March 2021, 33-year-old Sarah Everard was kidnapped in South London, as she was walking home from a friend's house near Clapham Common. Six days later, Wayne Couzens, a serving Metropolitan police officer, was arrested and charged with her kidnapping, rape, and murder. The killings of Sarah and other women including Aisling Murphy and Sabina Nessa, have reignited the debate about women’s safety, or lack thereof, in modern day Britain. Sadly, the attention has led to little change, as since Sarah’s death, at least 125 women have been killed by men every year. The result is that women’s trust in police and faith in the wider criminal justice system is at an all-time low, evidenced by the continual decline in the likelihood of reporting sexual violence to the police. This research draws on data collected from X (formerly Twitter) in the weeks following Sarah’s death. Through the analysis of ~2000 tweets/posts using the hashtags #SheWasJustWalkingHome and #SarahEverard, the paper explores women’s reactions to the killing, the police and government response, fear of crime and confidence in the wider criminal justice system.

Author

• Stephanie FOHRING, Northumbria University, UK