Defendants in rape cases to have sexual past examined
‘Trawling exercise’
MEN accused of rape should have their sexual history used against them in court, the Director of Public Prosecutions said. Defendants could face evidence about ‘coercive and controlling behaviour’ in their past relationships and jurors may even be shown their social media postings, Alison Saunders revealed.
The attempt to widen rape trial evidence to secure more convictions comes at a time when politicians and judges are trying to shield victims from cross-examination in court and bring in fresh restrictions on what can be said about women’s sexual histories.
Mrs Saunders, head of the Crown Prosecution Service, suggested juries should hear from witnesses who have suffered at the hands of rape suspects long before the alleged attack, and added that they should reach verdicts ‘in a way that doesn’t just look at the individual incident.’
She indicated that police will in future trawl through social media posts and CCTV to gather information.
It comes as a scheme set to be piloted in Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston crown courts this autumn will allow women who have made rape allegations to video record their evidence in advance of the trial.
The process will both shield alleged victims from a public appearance in court and allow judges to block any questions about the woman’s past or habits they deem irrelevant.
Mrs Saunders’ views are likely to form the basis of new guidance to prosecutors on how to handle future cases.
But Zoe Gascoyne, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said: ‘ The DPP does not have the right to change the law on a whim. Evidence of past behaviour can already be used on the authority of a judge, and there are rigorous procedures in place. This is not something that needs to be changed.’
Former criminal barrister and Conservative Woman website editor Laura Perrins said the plan will mean ‘a trawling exercise to gather irrelevant material to muddy the waters against a defendant’. She accused Mrs Saunders of using her position ‘as part of a feminist crusade’.
Criminologist and Home Office adviser Dr David Green said: ‘This is wrong. If past behaviour should not be used against someone who complains of rape, it should not be used against someone who is accused.’
However victims’ groups and liberal lawyers argue rape conviction rates are too low and have been pressing for years for legal changes to push them up. Mrs Saunders revealed her plans to prosecute ‘more difficult cases’ in an interview with the London Evening Standard – particularly those that involve ‘date rape’ accusations of attacks said to have happened in private with just two people present.
She said: ‘We are looking at how to prosecute certain types of cases, the more difficult ones. They tend to involve drugs or drink and people who know each other.
‘Some of it will be if you have already been in a relationship, understanding the dynamics of coercive and controlling behaviour and presenting cases in a way that doesn’t just look at the individual incident. If it is about drink and drugs, in some of them there will have been a targeting ele- ment, either by buying drinks or standing back until you pick somebody off.’ .
The comments come at a time of deepening controversy over how the courts should deal with rape trials.
The plan for pre-recorded cross-examination in rape trials has been quietly prepared by judges and tried out in cases involving child witnesses in three crown courts.
Former Justice Minister Liz Truss promised in the spring to extend it to all adult rape cases, despite concerns from senior judges. The Ministry of Justice said the scheme would protect alleged victims from unfair questioning about their sexual history.
Last year Appeal judges allowed such evidence to be heard in the retrial that led to the acquittal of footballer Ched Evans. It admissible under 1999 laws as long as it is deemed relevant.