"Addressing the prevalence of rape and sexual violence in England: Understanding the challenges and seeking solutions"

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) Crime Survey in England and Wales demonstrated that over 700,000 people aged between 16 to 59 were the victim of a sexual offence in 2017 (ONS, 2018).  Of all the sexual crimes within the Sexual Offences Act 2003, rape drew the highest proportion of crimes not proceeded to court.  For example, year ending March 2019 saw 58,657 allegations of rape to police but only 1,925 cases resulted in a successful prosecution (HMCPSI, 2019).  Behind each of these statistics is a human being, something we all do well to remember. Late 2023 , I published a paper on the rape pandemic that this country has been suffering from over the past 10 years. My paper tried to examine it from a specific direction - that of the involvement of the prosecution of these crimes by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the female rape victims experiences recorded in the British news media. The current research published in England and Wales tends to focus on stats only from combined government agencies within the criminal justice system. Lets examine five of these papers* that discusses the issue of high attrition rates for female rape survivors.   These five papers are a sample of the many research documents that support my assertion within my dissertation that the CPS has had a major part to play in this pandemic and that news sources either ignored the impact on women or employed various biases and rape myths:

*All of the following research papers are referenced using APA 7

Research paper one.

Brown. J (2011). We mind and we care but have things changed? Assessment of progress  

in the reporting, investigating and prosecution of allegations of rape. The journal of sexual aggression., 17(3), 263-272, https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2011.613280 

In 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted that failure to successfully prosecute rape offences within England and Wales had reached pandemic proportions (Westmorland and Gangoli, 2011).  Between January and October 2011, 43,579 cases of rape were reported.  This was up 7% from 2009 (Flatley et al, 2010).   This paper examined data from the Metropolitan Police Authority (2011), Stern (2010) and Cook (2011).  They found that their qualitative research inferred a link between the CJS and high attrition rates.  To illustrate, between these dates, it was estimated that only 0.5 per cent of female rape victims came forward making an average of 95,000 rapes recorded by police, of these, 2,910 went to court and 1,070 resulted in a successful conviction (MoJ et al, 2013).  

To be able to control these attrition rates, Brown (2011) suggested that it would be advantageous to focus attention on three main areas:  improving equality between the sexes, focusing on Restorative Justice (RJ) outcomes and finally eradicating myths surrounding sex and sexual consent.  They concluded by summarising the current difficulties with poor rape attrition rates, as discussed within my research paper, that there is a clear link between these poor survivor outcomes and the CJS, which the CPS is a part of.                               

Research paper two.

Cook, K. (2011). Rape investigation and prosecution: stuck in the mud? Journal of  

sexual aggression – an international, interdisciplinary forum for research, theory and practice, 17(3), 250-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2011.613281 

Cook's paper was published in response to an UK government review into poor rape attrition rates called the Stern Review (Stern, 2010) .  Cook (2011) employed a feministic approach.  The government requested that a review be carried out by Baroness Stern (2010) into why sexual offence crimes have not been successfully prosecuted despite the continued increase in reporting rates.  Cook (2011) suggested that Stern (2010) was still propagating stereotypical “stuck in the mud” ideas.  In particular, she suggests that the current adversarial court system gets in the way of any egalitarian style prosecution for rape survivors.  Cook (2011) also inferred that the problem was exacerbated upon release of the sexual offender from prison.  Although there are several resident and community based therapeutic approaches for sexual recidivism within England and Wales, they have had a limited amount of success in reducing offending due to the complexity of the offence and its causations (HMPPS, 2020).  Additional funding is required to boost government and charitable support and welfare schemes within England and Wales.   This research voiced concerns over sexual offending patterns, Stern’s (2010) report on rape cases and how they are handled by public bodies such as the CPS.  Cook’s (2011) qualitative feministic perspectives supported my assertion's that the CPS has played a considerable part in the low acceptance of cases, managing prosecutions and how this revictimised survivors. 

Research paper three.

Gregory, J. and Lees, S. (1996). Attrition in rape and sexual assault cases.  British journal  

of criminology, 36(1), 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014060 

Gregory and Lee’s (1996) research highlight a historical prospective between the police and CPS’ and their share in culpability for the high rape attrition rates throughout England and Wales.  Although this peer reviewed qualitative phenomenological paper was published over 20 years ago, Gregory and Lee’s (1996) offer us a prolegomenon from which we can analyse the data from a contextual sexual offence perspective. For example, austerity within England and Wales during the 1970 and 80’s set in motion the inadequate attrition rates we see today (Farrell and Jennings, 2014).  The authors interviewed officers from the Metropolitan Police service, a Forensic Pathologist, Islington CPS, and victim groups between 1988 to 1990.  The semi-structured interview data revealed that one of the main reasons rape cases were not processed, was that police officers failed to correctly catalogue these offences (Chambers and Millar, 1983).  Even with the CPS taking over prosecutions from the police in 1986, statistics continued to reveal mediocre prosecution levels.  Temkin (1993) posited that a police subculture belief in sexual myths was partly to blame for these poor attrition rates.  This led to evidence being contaminated making it impossible for the Crown to use in court.   

The paper highlighted a historical to current perspective of attrition rates within the CJS.  Although revictimization was having a profound effect back in the 1980’s, it clearly shows that, rape attrition has been a systemically profound problem for many years (Gregory and Lees, 1996).  This paper’s focus on the police’s relationship with rape attrition rates, provides context to our research topic of the crowns failure to prosecute, in that, there are also other parties within the CJS whom attribute to this phenomenon. 

Research paper four.

Murphy. A, Hine. B, Yesberg. J. A, Wunsch. D. and Charlton. B. (2021). Lessons  

from London – A contemporary examination of the factors effecting attrition among rape complaints. Psychology, crime and law, 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316x.2021.1880584  

Murphy's data revealed that one of the lowest rape conviction rates in Europe were in England and Wales, with only 1.5 per cent of cases resulting in a prosecution (Home Office, 2019).  It has been estimated that 80 per cent of rapes go unreported to police (Kelly et al, 2005).  Data from April 2006 indicated that of the 446 rapes reported to the Metropolitan Police, only 45 cases were processed by CPS even though 1 in 4 of these offences was perpetrated upon those under 16 years of age (Murphy et al, 2021).  This quantitative study highlighted that each element of the CJS has had a cumulative effect on poor prosecution rates.  Furthermore, rape myths surrounding the use of alcohol or mental instability of survivors continues to negatively affect attitudes toward survivors (Bohner et al, 2013, p. 17).  Officers who brought into this mythology bias, were responsible for 48 per cent of case withdrawals as they believed that survivors would likely retract their statements (Hohl & Stanko, 2015).   

The authors suggested the need to implement robust psychological training and interventions as most current policies and procedures were outdated.  Additional mental wellbeing support is required for survivors throughout the justice process especially when dealing with those that suffer mental health difficulties as this is likely to impact upon co-morbidities and increase the risk of suicide (Murphy et al, 2021, p.5).  In conclusion, this paper covers the police investigation to prosecution process of the sexual offence.  It highlights a cross section of reasons that attribute to poor rape attrition rates.  With only a small percentage of cases gaining CPS approval to charge.  The data supported the ideas behind my papers subject positions and discursive repertoires surrounding the CPS’s involvement in the negative direction of prosecution levels to date. 

Research paper five.

Wheatcroft, M., Wagstaff, G. E. and Moran, A. (2009). Revictimizing the victim? How  

rape victims experience the UK legal system.  Victims and offenders, 4(3), 265-284. DOI: 10.1080/1556488090304852 

Between 1977 and 1999 the Home Office (2002a) reported that rape prosecutions fell from 1 in 3 to 1 in 13.  This research was carried out using a Thematic Analysis methodology to investigate social perceptions and mythology surrounding survivors of female rape. In 2005, only 5.8 per cent of rapes resulted in the CPS prosecuting (Wheatcroft et al 2009).  In 2004, the Sexual Offenses Act brought about several positive changes including the incorporation of new sexual offences on men. However, myths that were perpetuated throughout previous legislation and discriminative language regarding female survivor myths continued to be propagated. A considerable proportion of media sources have also been found publishing such myths and biases (Wheatcroft et al, 2009, p.4).  Semi structured interviews were undertaken with victim groups, police, and victim support services.  Survivors expressed concerns about reporting the crime due to the subject of rape being taboo in most cultures and communities and that no-one would listen to them anyway.  Society also continues to fail to engage in a discussion to remove such negative stereotypes such as rape is only an “evolutionary response” (Wheatcroft et.al. 2009).  Myths like this move from being societal concepts to active false perspectives within CJS processes.    

The research highlighted the urgent need for more specialist centres, training for police, prosecutors and educating society to dispel rape mythology and discrimination.  Expanding current societal understanding of sexual offences both within psychological research and within the media system is urgently required.  

Conclusion.

This brief bibliography highlighted how female rape attrition rates within England and Wales continue to fall below acceptable limits.  Also, it highlights how poor attrition rates are affected by problems within the various sections of the CJS, particularly highlighting the involvement of the police and CPS within England and Wales.  Although my paper focuses on the CPS position on negative attrition rates for the prosecutions of rape of a female, some of the above papers linked the police force as an organisation to this issue and individual officers’ biases.  Each of the above papers were chosen out of the many psychological papers as they not only supported its main theme but also gave a contextual and historical viewpoint on the many facets of CJS and the part they play, individually and organisationally within this topic.  Hope for improvements where discussed.  Such as the change in legislation, training for all key parties within the CJS and a reduction in misogynistic mythology (Cook, 2011).  These issues will also played a central theme throughout my paper.

The Crown’s Failure to Protect - A Critical Discursive Analysis of Media Reports Referring to Female Rape Attrition Rates in England and Wales - ProQuest Thompson, B. (2022).