Social enterprise The Egalitarian launches new campaign, 'Spiking Out Justice In'

Social enterprise and safe place project The Egalitarian has launched its new campaign, Spiking Out, Justice In.

Promising to "not stop" until spiking is made a criminal offence, which was ruled out by the UK Government last year, The Egalitarian have already founded Spike Report, the first publicly viewable spiking incident database.

"Spiking Out, Justice In was launched in line with the nationwide spiking intensification week on March 20 to recognise the need for spiking to be made a standalone criminal offence," the largely Leeds-based group - which trains venues, workplaces and student unions nationwide - tells Mixmag.

Read this next: It's time for clubs to start taking spiking more seriously

"As an organisation that is strongly focused on anti-spiking activism, we have spent a lot of time analysing the law on spiking and the barriers for victims to reporting crimes. In addition, our Spike Report allows victims to include whether they reported the incident to the police if they chose not to, why. We have had an overwhelming number of submissions stating an unempowering experience when it comes to reporting, filled with stigma and a lack of action from the police following reports. We are passionate about ensuring that this changes.

"Currently, spiking sits under the sexual offences act and the offences against the person act. The lack of clarity in the law about what spiking is and how a perpetrator can be charged for it makes victims question whether they have been spiked, doesn't allow anyone to understand the consequences for perpetrators and it is even confusing for police officers to understand how to charge perpetrators of spiking. There is a severe lack of police data on spiking because it is not clear how to long spike reports due to the ambiguity of the law currently."

Read this next: NTIA express "disappointment" in Government's failure to introduce specific spiking offence

On March 19, the founders were invited to Parliament to speak to Labour MP Judith Cummings about their work and campaign (pictured). "We spoke about what would happen if Labour are elected in the general election, following Keir Starmer's commitment to making spiking a standalone criminal offence," they continued. "The Spiking Out, Justice In campaign will work to hold Labour accountable to this promise, and ensure that the law is victim-focussed in every aspect."

The Egalitarian have called upon those wanting to get involved with the campaign to fill out this survey, to guage opinion on spiking, set to aid the project's trajectory. They've also called upon hospitality workers to fill out this survey.

You can stay updated with future developments of the campaign, and find out more, here.

Niamh Ingram is Mixmag's Weekend Editor, follow her on Instagram