‘Broken justice system’ fails rape victims

THOUSANDS of rape victims are being betrayed by a “broken justice system”, campaigners declared yesterday.

Serious sexual violence against women has been effectively “decriminalised” after a collapse in the number of attackers taken to court, they said.

Rape prosecution rates in England and Wales are at the lowest level on record with victims sometimes waiting years for cases to get to court.Yesterday campaigners lost a legal challenge against the Crown Prosecution Service over an alleged switch in policy in dealing with rapes and serious sexual offences.

The End Violence Against Women coalition claimed a “merits-based” approach in deciding which suspects were taken to court was ditched by the CPS in 2016.They argued the organisation adopted an unlawful “risk-averse” policy resulting in a plunge in the number of prosecutions.The judges dismissed the campaigners’ appeal against an earlier ruling that went against them.

Coalition director Andrea Simon said it came as violence against women was a topic of national conversation following the death of Sarah Everard.

It marked “another establishment betrayal of victims”. Rape urgently needed to be at the heart of the political agenda.

She added: “We are deeply disappointed at this outcome. However, we have no regrets about holding institutions accountable for the effective decriminalisation of rape. Thousands of rape victims continue to be let down by a broken criminal justice system.”

Referring to the ruling, she added: “We still lack alternative answers to why rape prosecutions have collapsed.”

Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill QC said the findings of a review into the fall in cases were set to be published in a few weeks time.