Despite the increase, prosecution rate in rape cases is as low as 1.7 percent
Rape incidents have risen by 77 percent in England and Wales since 2013. Despite this alarming increase, the rate of prosecution of rape accused has gone down, according to the data revealed by Crown Prosecution Services (CPS).
The annual report prepared by Violence Against Women and Girls , a strategy panned out by CPS, states that apart from a recorded low of 1.7% of rapes being prosecuted, the number of suspects charged with rape also fell from 2,822 in 2017 to 1,758 in 2018-2019.
In July this year, London’s Victims’ Commissioner, Claire Waxman, tweeted about the “stark findings in a major review of rape case”. She also urged the CPS to “bridge the justice gap” by “pushing for trauma informed systems”.
In September, Annie Tisshaw even called out CPS when her rape case was dropped by the prosecutor. Various women’s rights organisations, represented by Centre for Women’s Justice, threatened to take legal action against CPS for “dropping” rape cases without any justification or reason. Following this, CPS reassured to review its decisions in rape cases.
The Prime Minister candidate from the Labour Party in 2019 UK General Elections, Jeremy Corbyn, also tweeted a video in support of the issue on December 10, saying: “The system is failing the victims of sexual violence”
The statistics revealed by New Home Office also indicated that the accused in more than 98 percent of reported rape cases are allowed to go free.
Sophie Anrah, 25, from Reading told Raven news: “I do not feel safe walking home at night and opt for an Uber 90% of the time. I even carry pepper spray with me!”
CPS attributes the decline in accused summoned in rape cases to the lesser number of cases passed on by the police and a slowdown in work due to vast libraries of digital evidences in each case.
Nadia Caunhye, 24, South London, told Raven news: “The rising number of rape cases is concerning. Despite the advances in women’s rights and gender equality, there is a victim blaming culture in today’s society that perpetuates. Even though the police have distributed the “R u asking 4 it” guides, the number of rape cases have continued to increase.”
While the number of reported cases stands at nearly 58,000 in 2019, only 3.3 percent of the cases will end up in a conviction, given the conviction rates as sanctioned by the CPS over the past year.