Rape victims now forced to wait 446 days for justice
RAPE victims faced an even longer wait for justice as the barristers’ strike took hold earlier this year, figures showed yesterday.
Adult rape cases in England and Wales took an average of 446 days between an alleged offender being charged and a trial reaching a verdict.
Figures from the Government’s ‘ criminal justice scorecards’ showed the waiting time rose by 50 days on average between the first quarter of this year and the second quarter.
The main delay came in the courts system after the strike by criminal barristers began in April. The average time between a court receiving a rape case and the completion of a trial rose by 29 days over the period, as backlogs increased due to the industrial action over barristers’ fees.
The data published yesterday does not cover the most damaging stages of the strike, when barristers launched a complete walkout from the end of August.
It led to paralysed crown courts and to backlogs rising back up to 60,000 cases in England and Wales. But last month members of the Criminal Bar Association voted to accept an enhanced pay deal.
Yesterday’s figures show the number of outstanding rape cases at crown courts rose by 152 to 1,628 during the period. There was better news on the time taken between a rape complaint being made and charges being brought by police. The average time fell by 16 days to 342 days. In addition, the time taken by the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether to bring rape charges fell by 29 days to 177 days, on average.
The proportion of rape complaints that led to an offender being charged rose to 4.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year, up from 4 per cent in the previous three months. Last year ministers expressed their ‘deep shame’ at how rape victims were being failed, and pledged to restore rape charge levels to at least the level seen in 2016, when it stood at 7 per cent.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said: ‘These figures show we are making progress in improving the response to the appalling crime of rape. Charging decisions by the CPS are being made 29 days quicker than the last quarter, and 27 per cent more cases are going to court compared to last year.
‘But we are restless to go further, which is why we are recruiting more sexual violence advisers [who support victims], improving collaboration between police and prosecutors, and quadrupling funding for support services so victims get the justice they deserve.’
‘We are restless to go further’