Rapists are being let free to attack again amid crisis in criminal justice, says victims' commissioner
Rapists have been left free to attack more women because of police and prosecutors’ comprehensive failure to bring them to justice, says the victims’ commissioner.
In her annual report, Dame Vera Baird said little had changed in the past year to sway her from her belief that rape has been effectively decriminalised.
Just 1.6 per cent of recorded rapes resulted in a charge of summons, the lowest rate in modern times, leading to the “uncomfortable truth that if you are raped in Britain today, your chances of seeing justice are slim.”
“Rape is often a serial offence and rapists carry on until they are stopped. This collapse in charging comes with the risk that we are letting some guilty people escape justice, leaving them free to go on to attack more victims,” said Dame Vera.
She welcomed ministers’ “powerful apology” for allowing the crisis over rape prosecutions to “fester” for at least four years but said their proposed solutions were “underwhelming” and “riddled with compromises” necessitated by the tendency of police and prosecutors to blame each other.
She warned that “bizarre” proposals by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, in her new crime bill would “effectively legitimize over-intrusive” demands by police to search through calls, texts and messages on rape victims’ phones.
This flew in the face of pledges by ministers for police investigations to be focused on the alleged rapist rather than testing the credibility of victims, she said.
Dame Vera said she had put forward alternative legislative proposals that would protect the privacy of victims and which were “absolutely fit and acceptable” to police and called for women to have independent advisers when facing such “digital strip searches.”
“So, what is the Government playing at, determining that investigations will focus on defendants all the while empowering digital investigation of the complainant?” she said.
“Which underlines also why it is so disappointing that there is no plan for independent legal advice to tackle these well-documented instances of excessive and undue data requests by police and prosecutors, despite an excellent pilot scheme in Northumbria.”
She said it was “disheartening” that truly transformative policies, such as the pre-recording of evidence of intimidated witnesses were to be put off by further piloting or general delay.
“Prerecording testimony and cross examination whilst the recollection is fresh- and releasing the complainant early from any further involvement in the trial - ends the long, anxious wait they currently experience as their case reaches court.
“Many victims now simply drop out of the justice system to get over what has happened to them and to try to resume their normal lives, abandoning hope of justice on the way. This is simply not acceptable nor sustainable.”
Dame Vera said the best proposal by the Government was to expand an Avon and Somerset police force pilot of “suspect-focussed” investigations although she admitted: “It remains remarkable to me that police need to be instructed to investigate the suspect, not the victim.”
“Indeed, academics who worked with the force speak of what was previously a ‘complainant credibility unit’ rather than a rape investigations department. This will be true of forces up and down the country,” she said.
The scheme is to be expanded to four other forces although Dame Vera said she was concerned there was only funding for one year’s rollout.
She welcomed plans for scorecards’ to measure the performance of police and prosecutors with the aim to restore prosecutions to the levels of five years ago.
But she warned: “What will the consequences for agencies be if they fail to make the promised progress - if any at all?
“The Crown Prosecution Service has a dismal record in rape – if they don’t improve, what next? The government has a mountain to climb if it is to restore victims’ confidence in the justice system.”
