News article: Rape convictions hit record low

[webmoo]

An interesting and relevant news article for you all to peruse:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4296433.stm

The percentage of reported rapes to lead to convictions in England and Wales has fallen to an all-time low, according to a Home Office study.

The number of rapes reported is rising - but only 5.6% of 11,766 reports in 2002 led to a rapist being convicted.

Researchers tracking 3,500 court cases found "sceptical" prosecutors and police often did not believe victims.

There was also "some evidence of poor investigation and understanding of the law", they added.

Of the 11,766 allegations of rape made in 2002 there were just 655 convictions, 258 of which had come from a guilty plea. Only 14% of cases pursued made it to trial.

The report, carried out at London Metropolitan University, said crime data suggested up to 47,000 rapes were actually committed every year.

What think you all? Far too relevant and far too true...

[maria]

i wonder why they are rising does it have anything to do with the money pot ? i no there are real cases that people are getting raped and its an awful crime but if i had a good guess i would say that a certain percentage of these are false allegations and that is all down to greed ( money pot and revenge )

[Saffron]

These figures are very interesting, mainly because they go completely against what my husband and I have experienced. his accuser was given every encouragement possible, was never questioned over anything she claimed had happened when she initially went to the police. her word was taken as gospel. The police seemed intent on pressing ahead, despite the inconsistencies in what she said. Having read the statement she made (which was transcribed from video) I know that the gross contradictions and gaping holes in her statement were never even queried.

The only thing I can suggest is that these figures are from 2002, which is now 3 years ago, and therefore not particularly relevant.

[val lavender]

Hi All

my comments about the article quoted will take more thought than I have had to devote to it so far, but I feel that the following observation is worth making.

Given that we are now in the 21st century, have awsome technological power at our disposal and hordes of well paid civil servants - why are the 2004 figure not being quoted. The HO have had plenty of time to prepare them in my opinion given the above.


Regards



Val

[Snoopyseed]

Couldnt find the 2004 figure anywhere however every document i looked at including incredibly slow loading documents from the Home Office suggest a significant drop in reports of rape over the past few years.I also found this from the Victim Support Website.




Over the last five years the number of women referred to Victim Support following a rape or sexual assault has doubled. Last year, Victim Support schemes offered a service to over 15,400 victims of rape and other sexual offences.

Referral to Victim Support
Some people are put in touch with Victim Support by the police. An increasing number make direct contact themselves. In 1995, almost a third of the women offered help by Victim Support made direct contact with their local scheme. Some of these women may have chosen not to report the attack to the police.

.

Purpose of the survey
In continuance of this campaign, Victim Support decided to undertake an in-house survey to look at the treatment of victims of rape within the criminal justice system. This survey aims to consider how far current practice compares to what we believe to be the inherent rights of every victim of crime. The purpose of the survey was to highlight areas of good practice, to outline common problems, identify areas of unmet need and to make recommendations.

Crime statistics and reporting rates
Sexual offences make up just 0.5% of all recorded crime. According to the Home Office statistics, 30,400 sexual offences were recorded by the police in England and Wales in the twelve months ending June 1996 (Home Office, 1996a). Within this twelve month period the number of sexual offences increased by 2%, which compares to an average 3% increase per year over the last ten years. According to these statistics, the increase in the twelve months to June 1996 includes an increase of 14% in offences of rape (which includes a small number of male rape cases following the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994). The high increase in the number of recorded sexual offences is thought to be due, in part, to an increase in the rate of reporting and recording of these offences (Home Office, 1996a).

In the past year Victim Support offered a service to 3,431 victims of rape. Referrals of victims of rape have doubled over the past five years, with a third of victims of rape contacting Victim Support directly themselves, rather than being referred through the police.
Victim Support recognises that the vast majority of crimes of sexual violence are never reported to the police. Victim surveys carried out in Great Britain suggest that between 75% and 90% of all rapes may go unreported (Maguire, Morgan and Reiner, 1994).
People may decide not to report for a variety of personal reasons, such as because their attacker was known to them or the likely reactions of their family. Many women do not realise that the abuse they have experienced is a criminal offence. Reporting is also likely to be influenced by perceptions of a criminal justice system which is seen as unsympathetic to the needs of victims and rarely convicts on a charge of rape.

According to the official crime statistics the conviction rate for rape has drastically declined over the past twenty years (Home Office, 1989 and 1994). The conviction rate for rapes reported to the police has fallen from 33% in 1979, to 17% in 1987 and only 11% in 1993. Professor Sue Lees estimates that, once figures for non-recording by the police and the outcomes of appeals against conviction are taken into account, the conviction rate for rape drops to approximately 4% of reported rapes (Lees, 1996).


So even though we do not have the recent figures from the above trends it looks highly likely that rape crimes go up and conviction rates go down.Also bare in mind that most of the crimes in this type of offence are not reported at all.
Take a look at many domestic violence websites to see just how much these types of crime go unreported.
I know that in my own support group made up of over 150 people who have suffered a rape i can say honestly that only 8 f these have reported it to the police while i only know of 3 eople who have actually secured a conviction.

Snoopy