Dr Amy Burrell reflects on new findings from research commissioned by the Home Office on spiking.
The bravery of Gisèle Pelicot, the victim-survivor at the centre of one of the biggest cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault in an intimate setting, has highlighted a deeply uncomfortable truth around spiking and how this is used to facilitate other crimes.
However, the extent to which such assaults happen in intimate settings such as the home is “limited”.
“Limited” is the words used by Lord Hanson, Minister of State in a parliamentary response on what training is available for recognising and recording evidence of drug-facilitated sexual assault in intimate contexts.
During the written answer published in response to Baroness Kennedy’s question, Lord Hanson highlights that steps have been taken across England and Wales to improve prevention, evidence gathering and victim support. These include legislative change, policing pilots to improve sample collection following suspected spiking, and new guidance and training for frontline officers.
At the same time, there has been a growing realisation that, as well as ways to tighten the law and improve the training available for first responders and supporters of victim-survivors, we need to work to find out more about what we don’t know.
We don’t know well enough why people engage in spiking behaviours.
We don’t know yet how well interventions to tackle spiking will work to address criminality in intimate settings.
And, we don’t know how many victim-survivors there are of this pernicious crime.
“Limited” is the right place to start. This response from Lord Hanson is incredibly useful to recognise the limitations of our current data on spiking – and especially in an intimate setting – is crucial to move forwards and protect vulnerable people.
I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with the Home Office to tackle one key element of this complex and hidden harm, namely identifying motivations for spiking.
There is to date little academic research on the motivations of spiking perpetrators. As academics we have a responsibility to pursue at pace an understanding of the specific reasons why people choose to engage in spiking behaviours..
Our work will form part of a wider response to spiking. We will be contributing critical evidence to support policy development and operational practice. Our work focuses on better understanding the motivations and behaviours of perpetrators, with the aim of strengthening prevention, improving investigative approaches, and supporting more effective justice outcomes.
We are currently developing public‑facing materials that will provide clear, accessible insights from this research which will help policymakers, practitioners, and the wider public have better information to respond to the issue and I will be publishing these materials and insights on my ResearchGate profile.
Dr Amy Burrell, Research Fellow
Dr Amy Burrell’s work is one example of how the University of Birmingham's ongoing involvement in research contributes to public safety, criminal justice, safeguarding and support for victims. It also shows how academic expertise at Birmingham helps to inform national discussions and government responses to complex and sensitive societal matters.
Research Fellow
Dr Amy Burrell works on multiple research projects at the University of Birmingham, predominantly focused on topics such as sexual violence, behavioural crime linkage, and policing.
