Are rapists getting away with it?

[Aptrgangr]

Are rapists getting away with it?

By Tom Geoghegan
BBC News Magazine

In 1980, one in three complaints of rape ended in a conviction. Today, it's one in 20. In Gloucestershire, which was named the worst-performing county last year, how did it get so low?
Rapists are escaping justice, many people are convinced.
The number of convictions has risen a little, to 728 in 2005, but this has not kept up with the soaring rate of reported rapes.
A report published on Wednesday accuses police and prosecutors of failing to build strong cases, and the government is considering further reforms to make the justice system more sensitive to the needs of victims.
In Gloucestershire the problem is most acute. In Home Office figures published by the Fawcett Society, the county was bottom in England with a rape conviction rate of 0.86% of reported allegations. This compared with nearly 14% in Northamptonshire.
Of the 116 people accused in 2004, only one was convicted during that year. But Gloucestershire police point out that 10 of these investigations were ongoing and resulted in convictions the following year.
For the women told their evidence does not stand up - or that they are lying - the experience can be as traumatic as the rape itself, says Bee, who has worked at Rape Crisis Centre in Gloucester for more than 20 years.
"Young women these days are quite sassy and have more of an idea that these things shouldn't happen to them.
"The sad thing is that the whole system lets them down. They go to court confident that they're going to get this guy and the system can't come up with the goods. Then suddenly we're not dealing with the rape but the refusal of the system to give them justice."
She believes the police in Gloucestershire have been trying hard to improve the situation by introducing measures to make rape easier to report, such as special interview suites.

Memory gaps
Ironically, the increase in complaints may have contributed to the fall in proportion of convictions. But there are deep-seated problems in the criminal justice system which mean people are getting away it, Bee says.
She would like more judges and prosecutors to be specially trained in sexual crimes, and expert witnesses to give evidence to explain the behaviour of complainants, which is something the government says it is considering.
"The response of victims is the very thing that stops the cases from getting convictions, such as they didn't go to the police straightaway, they couldn't remember what happened.
"They have gaps in their memory and say contradictory things. They remember things later. There's no little women sobbing in court. They're detached."
Bee would also like the public, including juries and police, to be better educated about how widespread rape is and how "normal" rapists can appear to be.

Binge drinking
Though some who are critical of the police accuse them of taking frivolous cases too seriously, the Gloucestershire force say they work closely with the CPS throughout investigations. Every allegation is investigated by sexual offence trained investigators working to national standards, says a spokeswoman, who adds that the fall in convictions may be down to changes in the way statistics are compiled.
And there has been real progress in bringing sexual offenders to justice, says Adrian Foster, chief Crown prosecutor for Gloucestershire, with a conviction rate of 75% for all sexual offences in the county's courts in 2006.
Some commentators believe the increase in alcohol consumption among women in the past 20 years has made it harder for juries to believe victims did not consent. And a rise in accusations made against acquaintances has increased the focus on consent, which is difficult to assess.
Dr Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, says police and prosecutors' attitudes towards victims need to be more sensitive.
More fundamentally, the public debate about rape has to move away from presenting violence against women as acceptable, and victims of rape as blamed or disbelieved, she says.
Among the many women too afraid to go to police, many do contact charities like Rape Crisis Centre. Bee estimates they deal with nine times as many cases as the police.
There is hope on the way for rape victims in Gloucestershire. A Sexual Assault Referral Centre is due to open in Gloucester in 2008 and this "one-stop" location for victims will enable them to report a rape without pressing charges or giving their name. Then they can think about the consequences of legal action while the police collect evidence.
Bee believes it will make little difference unless public attitudes change. "I can tell you that [this centre] might get us up to the average of 5% and that's still nothing."

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Are rapists getting away with it?

[Marcus Marulus]

The laxness of European laws and the leniency of the system of justice is the main culprit for such things. Reintroduction of death penalty for homicide and gang-rape would be, in my view, one of the steps to be taken.

[Susi]

... I think it's also a matter of evidence. 30 years ago just being around the victim was enough for conviction, but now they want DNA and fingerprints, the works.

[kanz]

I'm not trying to start something here but death penalty for rape would be a bit much, unless you could prove 100% without a doubt he did it. But I'm actually alarmed at some of the law's they are saying about rape. I even remmeber seeing an article in the paper about they should make a law that if a women says someone raped her and knows who he is he should go to jail simply because she said it was him. I mean we really got to remmeber alot of girls say guys raped them that that wasn't the case. Even heard of women saying it cause a guy pissed them off. Yet when these girl's go to jail they get like 2 months?. That is a really big problem that people don't seam to get, these faulse rape charges fuck up the guys's life. It may even get them killed, all because some women was a little pissed off. I agree things have to be done to stop real rape. But we must also deal with the people who lie about it because they are just as bad.

[Caesar Princeps]

Originally Posted by prometheus

The laxness of European laws and the leniency of the system of justice is the main culprit for such things. Reintroduction of death penalty for homicide and gang-rape would be, in my view, one of the steps to be taken.

There should be no need of such strict penalties (especially for homicide, which can have different circumstances and motivation), if sentenced people actually stayed in jail as much as they should, not exiting after some years!

As a thumb rule, I would be for 20-25 years plus aggravations for the homicide, and 10-15 years plus aggravation for rape; Moreover, all certain (DNA evidence) sex crimes should be punished with physical castration, too.