Is rape really rocketing?

[Snoopyseed]

i found this, thought people might want to read it.
Snoopy

Startling figures suggest female rapes have soared in the UK in recent years, going up 27% in the last year alone.
Are so many more women really being attacked? Or is there another story behind the statistics?

There were 11,441 recorded rapes last year, according to latest police figures.

This compares to 8,990 the year before - and 6,281 when Labour came to power in 1997, a rise of 82%.

Police and the Home Office said the figures had shot up partly because of new ways of collecting statistics.

Women now are coming forward in increasing numbers

Policing minister Hazel Blears
They also said women were more confident to come forward following changed policing practices.

Policing minister Hazel Blears said: "I think it is actually good news that more and more women now feel confident enough to report rape.

"We've got a number of sexual referral centres right across the country, much better doctors, much better medical examinations, so that women now are coming forward in increasing numbers."

Conviction rate

But campaign group Women Against Rape was extremely sceptical that women were in fact getting a better deal at the hands of the police.

"They get a more sympathetic ear and a cup of tea and all that kind of thing," Ruth Hall told BBC News Online.

Women are simply more and more determined to come forward, they're just not prepared to put up with it so much any more

Ruth Hall, Women Against Rape
"But they're not getting what they need - which is justice, and the men being put where they can't hurt other women."

Police were still making fundamental errors with the ways they dealt with rape, she said - including the way they took statements and collected evidence.

She pointed out that the conviction rate for rape was still only 7% - "so it doesn't make any difference how many women come forward, no more people are getting convicted."

One senior London police officer has blamed the rise on rape partly on changing social attitudes, with more women going out at night and increased use of drugs and alcohol - giving opportunistic acquaintance rapists a chance.

Less fear

Ms Hall agreed some rapists were trying new tactics - for instance briefly chatting a woman up so they could later claim it was consensual.

"Certainly some rapists think they stand a better chance with so-called date rape, because it is often regarded as less serious.

"So that does give them the go-ahead to commit more crime.

RISING FIGURES... FALLING FEAR
11,441 recorded rapes in 2002
8,990 the year before
6,281 in 1997
25% 'very worried' about rape
That's a third less than 25 years ago
"They may well be encouraged by the fact that rape by someone that you know, however briefly, is not taken seriously by the courts."

However, Ms Hall also thought the rising statistics were to do with more women reporting rapes, than more women being attacked.

"Women are simply more and more determined to come forward, they're just not prepared to put up with it so much any more," she said.

Perhaps the most telling statistics are the National Crime Survey's look at how worried women are about rape and violent crime.

About a quarter of women questioned this year said they were "very worried" about being raped or attacked.

That is a worrying statistic in itself, but it is down a third on 25 years ago in 1988 - which suggests fear on the streets has actually been receding in recent decades.

[Baz63]

Some interesting issues raised by this thread. I hope people don't mind me making a few observations from the point of view of a prosecuting lawyer employed by the CPS:

Startling figures suggest female rapes have soared in the UK in recent years, going up 27% in the last year alone.
Are so many more women really being attacked? Or is there another story behind the statistics?
There were 11,441 recorded rapes last year, according to latest police figures.
This compares to 8,990 the year before - and 6,281 when Labour came to power in 1997, a rise of 82%.

These figures are not evidence that more women are being raped and/or are more likely to be raped. The figures simply do not support such an assertion. These figures show that more rapes are being reported, not that rape is on the increase. Different figures and analysis would be required before one could confidently conclude rape was on the increase. As far as I am aware the evidence does not exist.

Women now are coming forward in increasing numbers
There is no doubt this is the case. More women are reporting rape. It is difficult to know why? As a prosecutor working for the CPS I can say this.

More rescources have been made available to the police and CPS. There are now lawyers and police who specialise in rape. Specialist police officers are now trained in the taking of statements from victims of sexual crime. Protocols are in place which ensure rape files are more thoroughly reviewed. The police now have close ties to agencies, charities, and local women's groups who specialise in providing support for victims of rape who go to the police. Victims can now give evidence hidden from the accused, either behind screens or via live video link, preventing face to face contact at court with the accused. There are now restrictions on the sort of questions the defence can ask of a victim's sexual past. The Morgan defence has recently been abolished ( that is, where a defendant is found to have an honest belief in the consent of the complainant, then even if such a belief is unreasonable, he must be found not guilty). Guidelines regarding sentencing have greatly increased the minimum sentence.

These are innovations which have happened over the past 5 years. Have women become more confident of the system because of these innovations? Or is the increased number of women reporting rape a mere coincidence? 82% increase?


Conviction rate
But campaign group Women Against Rape was extremely sceptical that women were in fact getting a better deal at the hands of the police.
"They get a more sympathetic ear and a cup of tea and all that kind of thing," Ruth Hall told BBC News Online.
This is unfair. I hope I've illustrated this is not accurate.


Police were still making fundamental errors with the ways they dealt with rape, she said - including the way they took statements and collected evidence.
Mistakes will always be made, and that applies in any professional field. But the point is systems are in place which make errors less likely, and if occur are rectified quickly.

She pointed out that the conviction rate for rape was still only 7% - "so it doesn't make any difference how many women come forward, no more people are getting convicted."
The conviction rate in my branch is 60%. Conviction rates around the country range from between 30 -80%.

'One senior London police officer has blamed the rise on rape partly on changing social attitudes, with more women going out at night and increased use of drugs and alcohol - giving opportunistic acquaintance rapists a chance'.
There is no evidence proving there has been a rise in the incidence of rape. But there is no doubt there has been an increase in the number of women and gay men having their drinks spiked. The prevalence and use of these drugs may well lead to an increase in rape in the very near future, becoming a pressing social issue which the authorities are ill-equipped to deal with.

"Certainly some rapists think they stand a better chance with so-called date rape, because it is often regarded as less serious.
So that does give them the go-ahead to commit more crime'
It is not regarded less serious by the CPS, the police or the courts I can assure the reader of that. A person who has that perception and who is convicted of such an offence will find this to be untrue, and at great personal cost to themselves.

One or two comments:

1) I'm not saying the system is perfect. It is still flawed. Mistakes will , and are, being made. My point is that there have been significant improvements in the prosecution of alleged rapists, treatment of victims, and in sentencing which may well go a little way to explain the very large increase in women who have reported rape in the last 5 years;
2) I am not using this forum to either promote the police ( with whom I am in constant conflict and am independent of), or the CPS (with whom I am in even greater conflict).
3) I have no ties with the Labour Party and do not seek to attribute any improvements to the system to them in anyway.
4) I know that people are treated shabbily by the Justice System: I do not seek to prove otherwise.

[diana_holbourn]

Just a clarification: I think the reason for the discrepancy in the figures for conviction rates you quote and the ones commonly heard is that you're giving the statistics for the conviction rates for the cases that have actually made it to court, while the figures the newspapers generally use include all the people who report rapes to the police but drop the charges or have their cases rejected for various reasons before they can come to trial.

[Baz63]

Yes. On a closer reading you are right.

The figures I quote are those cases which have proceeded to trial the CPS having decided there was a realistic prospect of conviction. The figure of 7% relates to the conviction rate of all cases reported to police.

[Snoopyseed]

i found this, thought people might want to read it.
Snoopy

I just want to point out that the info taken was from another independant source,(BBC) it was posted to show another side to a few threads existing in other message boards.These opinions were not written by me, merely passed on for people to get another perspective.

Snoopy

[maria]

dear snoopyseed i see how much you write on hear and have read all you threads but have you ever concidered that half these statistic's are false allegations that are made maybe more... i can assure you that the one's that are falsley made are for one reason and one only and thats the money pot take that away and watch the stats go down ... my heart goes out to the genuin peopele that have had this awful crime comitted against them i no there lives will never be the same but neither are the people that are falsley accused i can guarentee if there was no money pot half these wouldn't be statistic there would be no need for most people to come forward because they would have no gain the law needs changing but i doubt it will ever get any better

[Baz63]

Originally posted by maria@14th September 2004 - 11:37 AM
dear snoopyseed i see how much you write on hear and have read all you threads but have you ever concidered that half these statistic's are false allegations that are made maybe more... i can assure you that the one's that are falsley made are for one reason and one only and thats the money pot take that away and watch the stats go down ... my heart goes out to the genuin peopele that have had this awful crime comitted against them i no there lives will never be the same but neither are the people that are falsley accused i can guarentee if there was no money pot half these wouldn't be statistic there would be no need for most people to come forward because they would have no gain the law needs changing but i doubt it will ever get any better

Can you please explain what you mean by money pot?


Where did you get the idea that over half of rapes reported to police are false? Do you have evidence, for example government or other surveys, to support what you say?

[wildmouse]

Originally posted by diana_holbourn@9th September 2004 - 09:47 PM
Just a clarification: I think the reason for the discrepancy in the figures for conviction rates you quote and the ones commonly heard is that you're giving the statistics for the conviction rates for the cases that have actually made it to court, while the figures the newspapers generally use include all the people who report rapes to the police but drop the charges or have their cases rejected for various reasons before they can come to trial.

The one thing that never seems to be mentioned is the way our 'nanny' state & the compensation culture has done is to take away everyones responsibility for their a own actions. There would be far fewer victims of crime if we all took responsibility for our actions & if we put ourselves in situation where we are in danger then we should accept the consequences. It is a modern phenomena that we must blame someone else for our own failings. One of the most commonest excuses given nowadays is 'I was drunk' . For goodness sake who's fault is that.
I'm not belittling true rape victims or victims of any crime that they had done all in their power to avoid, but surely it is Time we all took responsibility for our all our actions & accepted the consequences.

[Saffron]

Originally posted by Baz63@14th September 2004 - 07:16 PM
Where did you get the idea that over half of rapes reported to police are false? Do you have evidence, for example government or other surveys, to support what you say?

As a CPS Barrister, you are surely aware that there have been a number of cases where innocent men have been convicted of rape, later to have their conviction rules unsafe by the court of appeal.
Do you really believe that all rapes reported to the police are genuine? I noticed a case recently where a woman admitted making a false allegation of rape against a man in order to prevent her boyfriend realising she had cheated on him. She received 200 hours community service. Given the suffering caused by a false allegation, do you think that the sentence was appropriate?
I ask you because you surely must have an opinion on the posts regarding false allegations on this website.
Incidentally, there is a thread posted by Diana Holbourn elsewhere on this site giving official stats from a US survey regarding reported rapes. It concluded that of the rapes reported, C40% were false allegations. I know this in the US, but as a nation I would argue that we are not far behind them....

[diana_holbourn]

It didn't say the statistic was for America as a whole; it was the result of research carried out by a small police department meticulously calculating the average over several years.
http://www.menweb.org/throop/falsereport/kanin.html

[Ashley]

Diane, Saffron, Baz and interested parties.

The study which Diane refers to is very interesting, I actually have a copy of the full study carried out by Prof. Eugene Kanin which was published in 'Archives of Sexual Behaviour' Vol.23. The model for the 3 year study was a small mid-western town (pop. 70,000) that did not have a large crime problem and meant allegations of adult sexual assault were more thoroughly investigated. The figure of 41% false was actually based on recantations which were supported by evidence that the allegation was false.

There is however another lesser well published study commissioned by FBI Behavioural Sciences, from the results a chapter was published, profiling a potential false allegation and accuser, in 'FBI Manual For The Investigation of Sexual Assault A Joint Agency Approach'.

The study may not be representative of the population in general as it was conducted within the US Military, having said that, the criteria for concluding an allegation was false was actually stricter than Kanin's. What is of note is Kanin's figure of 40% held.

I actually wrote to FBI Behavioural Sciences in Quantico who kindly sent me a copy of the relevant chapter which was of considerable benefit in understanding the social, personal and psychological dynamics that may be behind a false allegation.

I believe the actual chapter is published on the net but I have been unable to locate it. I will keep trying and email it to any interested party. In the meantime I have attached another recent report of a provable false allegation which resulted in a risable sentence.




Detention for rape lie teenager
A teenager who lied about being raped has been sentenced to six months' detention.
Carli Purvis from Wearside admitted perverting the course of justice by making a false rape claim, at an earlier hearing.

The 18-year-old of Park Avenue, Washington, was sentenced on Tuesday at Newcastle Crown Court.

Her lies led to a 23-year-old male nurse being questioned by police before her story was exposed.


Purvis had met the nurse in Stevie Y's nightclub, in Washington, after having an argument with her boyfriend, the father of her one-year-old daughter.

'Avoid trouble'

The court heard she went with the man to his mother's house where they got into bed together, but nothing happened and he later asked her to leave.

After leaving, Purvis phoned her boyfriend and said she had been attacked in the street.

Police arrested the nurse, but soon realised he was innocent.

He has since quit his job unable to cope with the consequences of being arrested.

Prosecutor Alec Burns told the court: "She said she had been raped to avoid the obvious trouble that she had left the club with another man."

He said 16 police officers, two doctors, forensic scientists and 254 man hours had been involved in investigating the lies.

'Serious offence'

Jamie Adams, defending, told the court: "What she did was born out of stupidity, naivety and irresponsibility.

"She never imagined that making an allegation it would go as far as it did and she did not think anyone would be arrested for it."

He said when she found out someone had been arrested she admitted she had been telling lies.

Sentencing her to six months' detention in a young offenders' institute, Judge Guy Whitburn QC said: "The offence is so serious nothing other than custody can be jusified."


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/engl...ear/3594804.stm

Published: 2004/08/24 14:10:35 GMT

? BBC MMIV

[Saffron]

That would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic.
I really believe with all my heart that false accuser should be given a mirror sentence - ie: if rape terms typically start at 6 years, the false accuser should receive the same sentence, and a register should be kept.
This is obviously only for those individuals who either admit to or are convicted of making false allegations.

[maria]

Originally posted by Baz63@14th September 2004 - 07:16 PM
Can you please explain what you mean by money pot?
Where did you get the idea that over half of rapes reported to police are false? Do you have evidence, for example government or other surveys, to support what you say?

Quoted post

THE MONEY POT is ..... what falsely accusing people get once they have got there conviction regardless to the falsey accused being innocent either being told to take a plea bargain when they are innocent and the so called victims get paid out from the state NICE BIG PAY OUT

[maria]

Originally posted by Saffron@17th September 2004 - 02:22 PM
That would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic.
I really believe with all my heart that false accuser should be given a mirror sentence - ie: if rape terms typically start at 6 years, the false accuser should receive the same sentence, and a register should be kept.
This is obviously only for those individuals who either admit to or are convicted of making false allegations.

Quoted post

[B] i totaly agree with you the accused that is innocent should have the same respect given back to them, and the accuser should have the same punishment as if the accused had been found guilty even tho they were totaly innocent why should these people get all the joy and benefits like i have said before in previous times i could go out and accuse anyone and probably get away with it. i can also assure you i wouldn't in mind wildess dreams even concider it. but look at what i would get it makes you think doesn't it i could put a totaly innocent man away or on the offenders list destroy him and his family his life etc and why ? this is what sick people do and as far as i'm concerned they should have the same consquences be humilated lose there job put on register and a hefty prison sentence maybe this would stop people being falsley accused