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WOW2: July's Trailblazing Women and Events in Our History [1]

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Date: 2022-07-30

July 30, 2020 – In the UK, the Crown Prosecution Service faced a barrage of criticism after rape prosecutions and convictions in England and Wales fell to a record low , with police publicly censuring its charging policies and a judge paving the way for a landmark legal challenge. New figures revealed that prosecutions and convictions were down over 50% in three years, even though the number of reported rapes increased. Despite police recording more than 55,000 rapes in 2019-2020, there were just 2,102 prosecutions and 1,439 convictions. For 2016-2017 just over 41,600 rapes were recorded, there were over 5,000 prosecutions, and nearly 3,000 convictions. Questions were raised: Is the CPS refusing to take certain cases to trial because the jurors might be swayed by myths and misconceptions about what a rape victim should look and sound like, especially when alcohol or mental health problems are involved, or in the 90% of cases in which the victim and rapist were acquainted? Fewer rape cases were referred by police to the CPS last year – down 40% in three years – but Max Hill, director of public prosecutions denied the CPS was sending a message to officers not to send them challenging cases. In a joint statement, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s leads for rape, domestic abuse, and charging said the fall in convictions was “very concerning,” adding: “[W]e are hearing from our officers that it is becoming harder to achieve the standard of evidence required to charge a suspect and get a case into court.” Sarah Crew , the most senior police officer for rape in England and Wales, said officers were trying hard to meet the required standard, but the amount of information required had increased, and the process was taking longer. It led to “digital strip searches” – police allowed to request from victims masses of personal records from years before the crime was committed as part of the process of investigating a rape – causing an outcry by women’s and victims’ rights advocates – this invasion of the privacy of victims wasn’t scrapped until June 2020. Crew added, “ You join the police service to keep people safe and get justice for victims, and every single one of us wants to achieve that, but there’s an awful lot to do.” Meanwhile, a high court decision not to examine whether the CPS has changed its prosecution policy and practice has been overturned by the court of appeal. The Centre for Women’s Justice, on behalf of the End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition, argues that the CPS has become more “risk-averse.” In 2018, the Guardian newspaper revealed that prosecutors in England and Wales had been advised in training seminars to put a “touch on the tiller” and take a proportion of “weak cases out of the system,” because such a move would result in fewer prosecutions but a higher conviction rate. The conviction rate in 2016-2017 was 57.6%, almost the lowest on record, but in 2018-2019, the conviction rate was 68.5% of those cases presented in court. The Centre for Women’s Justice director, Harriet Wistrich, said the decision to grant a judicial review of CPS rape charging policy and practice in the court of appeal was historic, “They have accepted it is arguable that the CPS did change their policy, failed to consult, and their actions ultimately led to a fall in rape prosecutions, which discriminates against women, who are the majority of victims. This may amount to systemic illegality.” Sarah Green, director of EVAW, said: “Today’s figures show starkly that we are right to say rape has been effectively decriminalized. What else can you call a one in 70 chance of prosecution? The DPP’s constant exhortation to victims that they must come forward is frankly too much to take.”

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/30/2113064/-WOW2-July-s-Trailblazing-Women-and-Events-in-Our-History-July-25-through-July-31-2022

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