Rape ‘being decriminalised’ as cases slump

CAMPAIGNERS have argued rape is becoming “effectively decriminalised” as “appalling” new figures show prosecutions for the crime in England and Wales have slumped despite record volumes of cases reported to police.

The annual Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) report from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) shows there were just 1,925 convictions for rape or an alternative lesser offence during the financial year 2018-19, down from 2,635 in the previous 12 months — a drop of 26.9%.

This is despite the number of rape claims dealt with annually by police in England and Wales rising from 35,847 to 57,882 during the last four years.

It means around 3.3% of all reported rapes end in a conviction.

The Rape Crisis (England and Wales) organisation said a “complete overhaul” of the criminal justice system was “more essential and urgent than ever”.

A spokeswoman said: “For the second year in a row, official CPS data reveals a continuing and deeply troubling decline in criminal justice outcomes for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, rape and all forms of sexual violence.

“The figures... reinforce our conviction that a complete overhaul of the criminal justice system in relation to sexual violence and abuse, which we have called for — for many years — is more essential and urgent than ever.”

The report comes as a coalition of women’s organisations, represented by the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), gets ready to launch a judicial review case against the CPS over claims cases are being “dropped” without good reason.

Campaigners have previously argued so-called “weak” cases are ditched in order to improve low rape conviction rates.

But the CPS said the drop in rape charges was due to “a number of factors”.

Lawyer Harriet Wistrich, the CWJ founder, labelled the statistics “appalling” on Twitter and argued the “fault lies first and foremost with the CPS”.

She suggested on Radio 4’s Today programme there had been changes to the “merits-based approach” of prosecuting rape towards a “bookmaker’s choice”, where you “kind of second guess what a jury are going to decide”.

But DPP Max Hill denied there had been any changes. He said: “We prosecute on the basis of the code for prosecutors that specifically says that we operate on the basis that juries are objective and impartial and reasonable. “I absolutely share the concern... at the growing gap between rape reporting levels and the number of cases that are coming to court.”