‘Scorecards’ reveal failures on crime

THE shocking state of the justice system was revealed in full detail for the first time yesterday.

Ministers published new ‘scorecards’ – showing the number of reported crimes and how many result in charges.

They reveal how many victims of crime fail to secure justice, and the massive waiting times for cases to come to court.

For rape victims in particular, the data ‘paints a woeful picture’, campaigners said.

Although 11,312 rapes were reported to police from April to June this year, prosecutors authorised charges in just 292 cases.

From the first to second quarters of this year, the average time rape victims waited for a charge to come to crown court increased by a whole month to 70 days.

Across all types of crime, there were more than 990,000 offences with a specific victim from April to June. But the number of charges authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service was just 30,924.

Statistics also show that 29 per cent of police investigations overall were closed because victims withdrew their support, indicating the public are increasingly losing faith in the justice system. For rape, the figure was 61 per cent.

Chief executive of charity Rape Crisis, Jayne Butler, said: ‘The figures paint a woeful picture. Victims are now waiting on average 457 days for their cases to reach court, this is 156 days longer than in 2016.

‘The data reflects what we already know – the criminal justice system must do better for victims and survivors.’

The scorecards will be published every three months and, from next year, will include data at local level to allow comparisons between different parts of the country.