Blame for falling rape cases ‘may lie with police, not CPS’
PROSECUTORS are not to blame for the “woefully low” number of rape cases being put before the courts, a major review has concluded, as a watchdog suggested the fault may lie with the police.
However, groups that campaign against violence against women said the report was “profoundly disappointing” and accused inspectors of “lacking curiosity” around why it was so difficult to successfully prosecute rape.
The Attorney General ordered an urgent inspection to investigate why rape trials had dropped by 52 per cent despite the number of complaints to police soaring by 43 per cent during the same period.
One theory was that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was only taking on cases it knew it could win. But a review carried out by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate said there was no evidence to support that suggestion.
The report instead concluded that rape was a complex crime and appeared to suggest the problem lay with the police for failing to build solid cases.
Chief Inspector Kevin Mcginty said:
“While the CPS needs to improve the way it works with the police, the CPS is only a small part of a larger systemic problem in the criminal justice process in dealing with complex cases.”
In the year to March 2019, the number of rapes recorded by police was 58,657, but just 3,375 of those were referred on to the CPS.
Difficulties in gathering and interrogating digital evidence has caused delays in investigations and the lack of trained detectives has also been identified as a problem.
Deputy Chief Constable Sarah Crew, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council on rape, said work was already being carried out to address problems raised in the report.
She added: “Policing has been under huge strain in recent years, with rising crime and more complex investigations mismatched against our resources. The shortage of detectives, the large increase in digital evidence and tackling disclosure challenges have all impacted on the number of cases referred to the CPS and the time taken to investigate and prepare these.”
However, Sarah Green, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition said the report was “profoundly disappointing”. She said: “The report appears to leave many questions at the police front door, even though the Government’s own analysis … found clearly that the numbers of rape cases arriving at the CPS and going through to charge and prosecution have declined at a faster rate than the decline in referrals from the police to CPS.”
She also accused inspectors of “lacking curiosity” around why it was so difficult to successfully prosecute rape.
Harriet Wistrich, director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, described the report as ”altogether a wasted opportunity to shine a light on this crisis”.