[Ammi]

Something has gone seriously wrong in the criminal justice system when it comes to rape, according to a major government report.

Senior ministers say they are deeply ashamed that there has been a sharp drop in the number of cases going to court in just five years.

The government has promised to overhaul the way sexual crime investigations are conducted after victims, mostly women, complained of being digitally "strip searched", made to hand over phones, had their personal lives trawled over and their credibility questioned.

The report details how the case is often damaged during the police investigation, ensuring the victim never sees justice.

The government's end-to-end Rape Review, which covers England and Wales, says: "The numbers make for stark reading… Only 3% of adult rape offences assigned a police outcome in 2019/20 were given an outcome of charged/summonsed.

"This is down from 13% of adult rape offences assigned an outcome in 2015/16.

"Prosecutions and convictions for adult rape have also fallen, by 62% and 47% respectively since 2015/16."

In a letter signed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland and Attorney General Michael Ellis, they say: "These are trends of which we are deeply ashamed.

"Victims of rape are being failed. Thousands of victims have gone without justice.

"But this isn't just about numbers - every instance involves a real person who has suffered a truly terrible crime."


…full article on this…

https://news.sky.com/story/ministers...ailed-12335252


…I mean, it says so much that it’s taken so long for this ‘Review’ to happen when this is something that has been so blatant for such a long time…

[arista]

Yes was on Newsnight last night
The Labour lady
said it is terrible delay again.

Running a few pilots
is a poor attempt

[bitontheslide]

they have taken responsibility for the failing which is completely out of character and a big first step. However, i think there are so many problems with the current system and thinking that it will take a long long time to correct it

[Toy Soldier]

It's extremely complicated as it's only beneficial (including for the victim) for the police to proceed if there's a decent chance of securing charges... and the nature of sexual assault means that "beyond reasonable doubt" is very difficult to prove without evidence of force (when threats, intimidation and coercion are used as often if not more than force) and there are often no 3rd party witnesses.

It can actually be psychologically worse for the victim to proceed only for the casxe to be dropped or lost because of lack of evidence. Mainly because people are dumb about legal things - if it goes nowhere in the first place a lot of people are willing to say "Maybe, who knows". If it's pursued and then dropped, people start saying "Oh he was found INNOCENT so she was LYING!" when in fact there was just no hard evidence.

I don't know what the answer is.

[thesheriff443]

As bad as it sounds woman need to protect themselves because the justices system isn’t.

Maybe a app that you go on if you are on a night or a date tick you dont want sex and if anything happens then it can de used as evidence

Just a thought clearly something radical needs to happen

[Livia]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

they have taken responsibility for the failing which is completely out of character and a big first step. However, i think there are so many problems with the current system and thinking that it will take a long long time to correct it

Sums up what I was thinking.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It's extremely complicated as it's only beneficial (including for the victim) for the police to proceed if there's a decent chance of securing charges... and the nature of sexual assault means that "beyond reasonable doubt" is very difficult to prove without evidence of force (when threats, intimidation and coercion are used as often if not more than force) and there are often no 3rd party witnesses.

It can actually be psychologically worse for the victim to proceed only for the casxe to be dropped or lost because of lack of evidence. Mainly because people are dumb about legal things - if it goes nowhere in the first place a lot of people are willing to say "Maybe, who knows". If it's pursued and then dropped, people start saying "Oh he was found INNOCENT so she was LYING!" when in fact there was just no hard evidence.

I don't know what the answer is.

Yeah, unfortunately that's the reality of it. I would say though even in cases where there seems to be strong evidence like that NI Rugby player case, the men seem to get off. Also, what they need to be looking at is how these cases are dealt with and how the victim is treated in court, like she's the one on trial. Talk about what she was wearing, passing her underwear around the court etc

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah, unfortunately that's the reality of it. I would say though even in cases where there seems to be strong evidence like that NI Rugby player case, the men seem to get off. Also, what they need to be looking at is how these cases are dealt with and how the victim is treated in court, like she's the one on trial. Talk about what she was wearing, passing her underwear around the court etc

It doesn't help that there are constant calls to "prosecute the accuser" if a rape case is found not to be proven - who is going to take that risk when they've already been through a trauma? It shouldn't even be whispered unless there's some sort of concrete evidence of fabrication, e.g. the accused being verified to have been nowhere near the location (by independent, verifiable sources - not their pals and family).

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It doesn't help that there are constant calls to "prosecute the accuser" if a rape case is found not to be proven - who is going to take that risk when they've already been through a trauma? It shouldn't even be whispered unless there's some sort of concrete evidence of fabrication, e.g. the accused being verified to have been nowhere near the location (by independent, verifiable sources - not their pals and family).

Exactly. And no matter what people say, I'm really of the strong opinion that most women would not lie about being raped, everyone knows what an ordeal it is for the victim and how a lot of women are painted in the court rooms, their sex lives brought up etc

[bitontheslide]

psychologically, the best women to fight a rape case in the court are probably the strongest mentally and most capable of recovering and moving forward from it. Someone left destroyed from it isn't going to want to face the further ordeal in court. So the woman that appear in court are going to attract less sympathy because they seem strong and in control.

I don't know if i'm doing a good job of expressing myself, but i think the nature of the whole thing makes it inherently difficult to get a conviction

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

psychologically, the best women to fight a rape case in the court are probably the strongest mentally and most capable of recovering and moving forward from it. Someone left destroyed from it isn't going to want to face the further ordeal in court. So the woman that appear in court are going to attract less sympathy because they seem strong and in control.

I don't know if i'm doing a good job of expressing myself, but i think the nature of the whole thing makes it inherently difficult to get a conviction

Yeah, I get what you're saying, that's very true