Government response to e-petition about rape convictions (7 January 2008)

11 January 2008 in Government, Rape and Sexual Assault, Women's Group

We received a petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Support victims of rape and sexual violence by ensuring more rapists are convicted.”

Details of Petition:

“We request HM government to: – Provide central government funding for rape crisis centres to support victims. – Create specially trained CPS and police teams to prosecute sexual offences. – End unnecessary cross examination of rape victims and allow all juries to hear evidence of previous convictions of defendants and of previous similar allegations against defendants.”

Read the petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/rape-convictions

The Government is committed to bringing more rapists to justice and to ensuring that those who suffer these crimes are able to access the support services they need.

In April we published the Cross Government Action Plan on Sexual Violence and Abuse (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Sexual-violence-action-plan?view=Binary), which sets out a significant amount of work that is planned or underway from a number of Government departments.

This includes the introduction of Specialist Officers and Specialist Rape Prosecutors which have been rolled out across the country. The Goverment are currently rolling out guidance and training for police, prosecutors and barristers on serious sexual offences.

This year we have introduced new arrangements for the performance management of police forces and the CPS on rape. The new Criminal Justice Public Service Agreement and indicators for Criminal Justice agencies will make clear that rape should be a national and local priority.

All police forces are receiving operational support to develop and deliver action plans to improve rape investigation strategies and implement recommendations from Without Consent, an inspection of the police and CPS, the conclusions of which were published earlier this year.

Withdrawal is a major factor in the failure of rape cases to reach a conclusion so we need to ensure victims are supported through the criminal justice process. This year we are spending around £3m (bringing the total to £10m over 4 years) to supplement local funding.

This has helped to extend the network of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (where victims receive medical care and counselling and can assist the police investigation through a forensic examination). There were 5 in 2001, there are currently 19 and there will be at least 36 by the end of the financial year 2008-09.

The Government are providing £75,000 funding for the national organisation Rape Crisis – England and Wales and over £1m for local Rape Crisis Centres this year.

On 28th November we published the Government’s response to our consultation on a number of measures aimed at improving the outcome in rape cases. This consultation was entitled Convicting Rapists and Protecting Victims – Justice for Victims of Rape (http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.uk/attachments/Rape%20Consultation%20Summary%20Nov%202007.pdf). It considered a number of ways in which the process of trying rape cases could be improved. The Government intend to legislate to strengthen the law on the admissibility of evidence on when a complaint of rape was first made to the police. The Government will also propose to provide for video recorded statements for rape complainants to be automatically admissible. In addition we are taking forward a wide range of other non-legislative measures to combat rape.

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page14159.asp