PANORAMA BEYOND ALL REASONABLE DOUBT BRITAINS RAPE CRISIS

 

“ In the last 5yrs the CPS took a decision to prosecute fewer rape cases in order to increase their conviction rate, What seems to happen now is prosecutors try to second guess whether a jury would like this case has she had a drink? Was she flirting? How long after the event did she report?  Anything like that means a conviction is less likely.  So jurors aren’t getting the chance to decide for themselves.  So we now prosecute about a third of the people we did.  If the CPS doesn’t change their approach.  The police can’t get past them.”      Dame Vera Baird Victims Commissioner

The CPS said that they don’t talk about individual cases but say they don’t always get it right.  Charlotte Caulton-Scott from the CPS said:

“I think if any organisation sat and said we never get it wrong that would be ridiculous.  That’s why we have an appeals process in place you know we are all growing and developing and learning all the time and actually, that is going to make us better as an organisation because the more that we are listening to survivors and taking on board that feedback and putting it into our a guidance and our training, actually the better that we are going to get.”

But are they listening? I don’t believe they are.

The government has admitted it is failing victiims of rape, in 2021 the government released a comprehensive review promising to improve the way victims are supported through the justice system and increase rape prosecutions.

Dame Vera Baird said:

“It was absolutely right that miinsters apologised for letting rape complainants down I don’t think it went far enough because they needed to take stronger action in particular to swap the CPS back onto a challenging way of being not a capitulating why of being but some good things have come out of it.”

Just 1% of reported rapes result in a conviction source: CPS 2022

There is a lot of work to do to secure confidence and secure convictions and to send out the signal that rape won’t be tolerated 

Just 14% of rape survivors believe they will receive justice by reporting to the police Source:  Victims Commissioner Survey, 2020

In 2015 police in England and Wales submitted 28% of reported rapes cases to the CPS last year they submitted just 6%   Source:  Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary Crown Prosecution Service 2021.

“The CPS have this cycle of caution, coming back from prosecuting and of course this knocks on to the police that say well theses kind of cases won’t get past the CPS, costs a lot of time and effort to investigate them we won’t do do so, their second guessing what the CPS will do.”  Dame Vera Baird 

On average it takes nearly three years for a reported rape to get to trial 52% longer than 5 years ago. Source Ministry of Justice 

So when you hear that someone has been arrested for Rape or CSA and they were not charged or were charged but not prosecuted. Do we really know if that’s the truth? With a 1% charge rate and abusers known to be extremely cunning and manipulative I definitely know I know the answer!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0015pmk/panorama-beyond-reasonable-doubt-britains-rape-crisis