Collapse in rape prosecutions unlikely to be reversed without better victim support and funding to back reforms

12 April 2022

Unacceptably low numbers of prosecutions for rape will continue without stronger reforms to the criminal justice system, the Home Affairs Committee has found. In a report published today, the Committee welcomes attempts to reform policing, the CPS and the court system to reverse the precipitous fall in prosecutions over the last five years. However, it warns that in many cases reforms are localised or still in development and will require significant funding to make an impact at a national level.

The statistics on rape prosecutions are stark:

In the year to September 2021 there were 63,136 rape offences recorded - an all-time high
The number of completed rape prosecutions dropped from 5,190 in 2016/17 to 1,557 in 2020/21
The trauma of going through investigations and lengthy delays may have contributed to 63% of adult rape investigations being closed between July and September 2021 because the victim no longer wished to continue

The Government’s Rape Review, setting out its strategy for reversing this drastic decline in rape charges and prosecutions, lacks ambition. It targets a return to 2016 prosecution levels by 2024, however while this would reverse a steep decline it would merely be going back to a level that was widely regarded as poor. There is also little confidence that this target will be achieved.

The Home Affairs Committee calls on the Government to go much further, much faster and drive change in how rape and sexual offences are handled in policing, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts to create a significant increase in the volume of prosecutions and convictions.

The report finds that reforms will need to focus on the experience of victims attempting to get justice. Lengthy delays in cases reaching court, harmful evidence-gathering processes and poor provision of support services are turning people away from seeking justice. Programmes intended to improve performance in each of these areas are welcome but still in pilot stage and will require improved funding to be rolled out nationally.

Dedicated rape teams and specialised training for officers would significantly improve the police response to rape and sexual offence cases but are yet to be set up in many forces. Data concerning the number of specialised officers and wider dedicated services is poor and will need to improve if the criminal justice response is to be better coordinated.

Chair's comments

Publishing the report, Dame Diana Johnson MP said:

“The collapse in the number of prosecutions for rape and sexual offences over the last five years is truly shocking and completely unacceptable. While it is clear that significant effort is being put in to reversing this decline across the criminal justice system, there is much further to go. Thousands of victims are failing to get the justice they deserve and this has to stop.

From now on the focus must be on supporting the victims. Reporting an incident should be the beginning of getting justice but instead has become a source of further pain. The fact that even now nearly two thirds of cases collapse because a victim may not be able to bear going forward is unimaginable.

We need to see much more ambition and focus. We need better data collection to understand exactly what resources are available to handle rape cases at a local level and how they are performing. Specialist support needs to guide victims throughout the process and improved counselling to deal with the long-term effects. We strongly urge the Government to further pilot the provision of independent legal advice to victims and survivors grappling with requests from the police to access data from their phones or third-party material.

From now on there must be constant review and reform of every element of the system handling rape and sexual offences. There cannot be a single step back until prosecutions and convictions are far higher than they were even in 2016.”

Summary of key conclusions and recommendations:

Supporting victims

It is vital that victims and survivors of rape are provided with comprehensive services to support them during the investigation and prosecution process, as well as specialist counselling and therapy. Work must be carried out to improve the understanding of need and current provision. A comprehensive mapping and monitoring exercise should be undertaken to gauge the provision of specialist services across the country. This should cover services funded by all Government departments, including Health and Social Care, as well as those receiving funding from other bodies, such as Police and Crime Commissioners.

The Government should consider creating a dedicated commissioner to act as an advocate for the interests of victims of sexual violence and abuse, or expanding the responsibilities of an existing commissioner. This would provide better oversight of the provision of services to support victims and hold the Government and its operational partners to account for their performance.

Removing mobile phones from victims for extended periods is unnecessary and adds needless distress. The commitment to ensure phones are removed for no more than 24 hours is welcome but must be backed by the necessary funding to ensure all police forces have the equipment and skills to achieve it by 2024.

In our view, victims would be better supported through the justice system, and less likely to withdraw from proceedings, if they had access to independent legal advice. While the intention to consult victims’ groups is welcome, the Committee is concerned the Government is not giving this potential form of support enough priority. The Sexual Violence Complainants’ Advocate pilot scheme supported victims to deal with requests for personal data and this pilot should be extended, with consideration being given to also providing advice on sexual history applications and applications for counselling and therapy records.

Counselling needs to be accessible to all victims and survivors. Increased funding for Independent Sexual Violence Advisors is welcome, however there is not enough support in place for counselling and therapy in the long-term. This should be included and addressed in the mapping exercise of wider specialist services.

Ensuring the right police response

If the volume of rape charges and prosecutions is to increase the response of police forces will need to improve. Measures such as Operation Soteria, a joint programme between the police and CPS to focus investigations on suspects instead of victims, are welcome but unlikely to lead to change nationally without better funding to support their roll-out.

At least two-fifths of police forces in England and Wales do not have specialist rape teams in place and the Government does not currently collect data on how many officers are specially trained in investigating rape. Ensuring every police force has a specialist rape team would demonstrate that tackling this form of crime is a priority and improve the skillset of those handling cases, as well the support given to victims. The Government should make clear that this should be the norm across all forces and work with the NPCC and College of Policing to better understand the barriers to putting them in place. Data collection needs to be improved so that it provides a detailed picture of the provision of specialist teams and officers in each force, and published in each Progress Update.

Crown Prosecution Service

The role of the CPS is instrumental when it comes to increasing the volume of rape prosecutions and bringing more perpetrators to justice if guilty, as well as improving victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system.

The Committee is deeply concerned by reports from victims and survivors that they may avoid accessing mental health support, fearing that what they say may be disclosed to the defence and used to undermine their case. The Government must work with the CPS so that it is possible for the organisation to publish its updated guidance on pre-trial therapy as soon as possible. The Government should also ask the Law Commission to publish separate recommendations on pre-trial therapy and the disclosure of counselling notes by the end of the year. We welcome the fact the Law Commission is looking at access to counselling and therapy notes and records as part of its work examining the law and guidance relating to the use of evidence in prosecutions of serious sexual offences. However, we are concerned that, as the Law Commission will not be reporting until the summer of 2023, victims and survivors could be left without the mental health support they need for longer than is acceptable.

The CPS needs to improve how it communicates with victims. It should aim to develop better mechanisms for two-way engagement so that there is an opportunity to ask questions, rather than relying on letters.

Given criticism of the Victims’ Right to Review Scheme, data should be published about how many cases are submitted for review, how many decisions are upheld and how many reconsidered. This data should be broken down into key demographics.

Courts

Giving evidence in court is extremely challenging for victims and measures to lessen the impact on them are welcome. The wider roll-out of the use of pre-recorded testimony for intimidated witnesses is a positive step, and there should also be consultation on evidence given in private as a special measure and whether its use could be further widened. HMICFRS and HMCPSI have found that clearing the court, among other special measures, is underused.

Oversight

While it is welcome to see the key agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of rape develop action plans to improve performance, there is currently no single individual or body to ensure that the necessary transformation takes place. If progress updates show that the Rape Review and measures instituted by individual organisations are not having the intended effect, the Government will need to act quickly to put in place alternative actions. This should include setting out how organisations will be held to account if there is no significant rise in the volume of rape cases being prosecuted.