Rape victims facing ‘postcode lottery’
Rape victims in the UK, are facing a “postcode lottery” in the way they are dealt with after an attack, according to the Fawcett Society.
The women’s equality group said that latest Government figures showed just 5.8 per cent of rapes reported to the police lead to a conviction, a fall of 1.2 per cent.
The report by the group’s Commission on Women and the Criminal Justice System claims that the quality of facilities to treat and counsel rape victims varies across the country.
“We found it was a postcode lottery how rape victims are treated,” said chair and MP Vera Baird QC.
“If you are going to be raped, you should try to arrange to be raped in an area where there is a Sexual Assault Referral Centre.”
There are just seven centres to treat rape victims in the UK, she said.
The Labour MP for Redcar insisted that it was “critical” that victims were treated like a patient and not like a witness and called on the government to establish a network of centres across the country.
Crime figures released on Thursday revealed that the number of rapes reported to police rose 27 per cent last year to 11,441.
Commenting on the figures, Ms Baird said, “I’m appalled that the Lord Chancellor’s Department make clear that the conviction rate has now declined still further and is now 5.8 per cent.
“If that figure is applied to the 11,441 reported last year we are getting 664 convictions a year, which is abysmal.
“It is a miracle that women have the fortitude to come forward.”
She said that targets should be set to improve the way rape cases are handled and prosecuted and only specially trained barristers should be allowed to conduct rape prosecutions.
The report points out that centres for rape victims improve prosecution rates and calls for a national 24-hour rape crisis helpline.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We will shortly be publishing a Victims and Witnesses strategy which will set out further ways in which we are putting victims at the heart of the system, giving them more of a voice, and ensuring they see justice done more often and more quickly.”
The seven Sexual Assault Referral Centres are in Manchester, Northumberland, Lancashire, Leicester, Swindon, Cambridgeshire and London.
