The Policing Response to Rape

Introduction

This is a briefing paper by the Center for Rape Prevention (CRP) that was compiled into a report on August 10, 2012 after four months of country wide research. The aim of the paper is to sensitize the general public on the issues to do with rape and sexual molestation. The research was inspired by the trauma that victims of sexual molestation go through especially with regards to reporting the crime and the subsequent judicial processes (Van der Kolk et al. 2005). To this effect, the paper analyses how law enforcement and court processes have gone about addressing rape. The progress of the government is looked into from the perspective of the joint inspection report, Without Consent.

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The Without Consent report was jointly commissioned by Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The Center for Rape Prevention (CRP) was keen to look into the various dynamics of rape starting from negative impacts that victims suffer to the role of the police and courts of dealing with the perpetrators. The statement of topic for this briefing paper is “A review of the government’s progress in dealing with rape victims and perpetrators”.

Background of Issues

Matters to do with rape are generally frowned upon by the public due to the stigma associated with it. The stigma is mainly as a result of the society’s view on the matter which in many instances, the public ends up blaming the victim for their misfortune (Van der Kolk et al., 2005). Apart from this, also the aspect of gender plays a big role on the stigma associated with rape. For instance men who suffer the ordeal are slow to step forward and go through with the rigorous court processes especially in a public trial in which they are forced to recount the horror as material witnesses (King, Coxell & Mezey, 2002). The case is the same for children who undergo sexual molestation; parents and guardians are to the most part reluctant to report the matter due to the fear of the children going through a public. The net result is that an estimated 75-95% of crimes to do with rape are not reported (HMCPSI & HMIC, 2007). Apart from stigma, there are several other reasons why victims are slow to come forward to the police. Among the reasons cited is the failure by victims to explicitly define what they have undergone as rape (Spalek, 2006). Other victims may have been raped while engaging in illegal activities such as recreational drug use and so fear that reporting the matter may end up legally compromising them (Maguire, Morgan & Reiner, 2007). At times the rapists are close family members such as parents, relatives and spouses or respectable members of the society; victims are in most cases not willing to go through an embarrassing process especially at the risk of not being believed.

That being said, the role of the police is one of the areas that can be improved greatly so as to ease the troubles that victims go through when reporting rape (Jones & Cook, 2008). The role of the police can further be useful to the victims especially when it comes to fast tracking investigations and providing expert investigatory services so as to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice at the soonest possible time (Spalek, 2006). The Without Consent report was a clear indication of the shortcomings that the legal mechanisms had in terms of dealing with the victims of rape. Following some of the recommendations and findings of the report, this briefing looks into the progress that has been achieved by the police in improving on the recommended areas.

Statistics on Rape

The statistics on rape can be viewed from three perspectives; that of the victims, police and the prosecution (Home Office, 2010). From the victim’s perspective, the statistics look at the numbers of victims who report rape to the police. It is estimated that it is only between 5-25% of rapes occurring in the UK that are actually reported to law enforcement agencies. According to the Without Consent report, these numbers vary depending on the amount of victims who are willing to report the rapes in the first place. However, rape over the years has taken on a new dimension especially with the entry of the date rape drug into the fray. This drug has tremendously increased the number of people, especially women who are raped (Jones & Cook, 2008). The reason is because this drugging occurs in entertainment joints where personal prohibitions are greatly compromised due to the use of alcohol and other relaxation drugs. When rape does occur, the victims are in most cases very intoxicated to remember whether the sex was consensual or was in fact rape. It is through such circumstances that rape cases are not reported as the victims themselves are not sure of exactly what happened to them in the first place.

The second perspective is that of the police. Of the few cases that are reported to the police, it is estimated that between 50-67% of the cases do not go past the investigation stage (HMCPSI & HMIC, 2007). The reason for this is because many victims end up retracting their testimonies due to a myriad of factors. Such factors include the victims refusing to follow up with the reports due to stigma or reaching to out of court settlements with the perpetrators after the intervention of family members (Payne, 2009). In an effort to encourage rape victims come forward to report and to ensure that they do not withdraw their statements, the police service has undergone reforms. Since police are normally the first respondents in a rape case, the reforms are aimed to bolster the support that victims are given when they report the rape. This has been done by enacting a national standard on how calls are received and handled by all police stations. To ensure that victims continue do not withdraw their cases, police through the policing pledge keep the victims informed on the progress that investigations are yielding. The police has also partnered with other stakeholders, namely the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to set up over 150 witness care units. These care units are set up to provide victims with protection during the investigation and prosecution phase of the case. The police force’s support for the victims was comprehensively undertaken in 2006 after the enactment of the Code of Practice for victims of crime (Home Office, 2009).

The police force is now set up in such a way that when a victim goes to report rape in a station, they are referred to a specially trained police officer within an hour (CPS, 2003). The reforms were also aimed to set up a Sexual Assault Referral Centre in every station in the UK by 2011. The role of the referral centre will be to help in counseling victims, provide vital medical care and aid investigations in whatever way they can. The results of these reforms have been significant in that they have positively impacted on the perception of the police in the eyes of the victims. Satisfaction of the victims with the police has consequently increased to 83% on how the police force is handling cases of rape. Despite the increased growth in confidence by the victims on the ability of the police force, the public still remains skeptical on the ability of the police to sufficiently deal with rape cases (Home Office, 2009). To this effect, only 36% of the British public believes that the police force is adequately equipped or is doing enough in dealing with rape (Payne, 2009).

The third perspective of rape statistics is that of the prosecutors and the general court processes. The transition of rape cases though the entire system shows that despite the very few victims actually report the rapes, during investigations a majority of the reported cases fall by the wayside. This transition continues also during the prosecution phase whereby between 33-50% of the cases end up in acquittals (Payne, 2009). Conviction after trial for those found guilty also reveals progressive declines in conviction rates for rapists. In 1977, nearly a third of the reported cases that ended up in court were convicted to do jail time. By 1999, the figure for conviction had greatly declined to slightly over 7% with only one in every thirteen cases reaching the bench ending up in a jail sentence. The rate had dramatically decreased by 2009 to just one out of every eighteen cases, which represents a conviction rate of just 5.6% (HMCPSI & HMIC, 2007).

This failure in the legal apparatus to convincingly deal with rape cases can be viewed as a negative in policing efforts towards rape (Newburn, 2007). However, the reality is that the high levels of attrition are as a result of decreasing rates of detection. Here is where the police are laboring hard to increase the detection rates through reforms in investigative duties. The trend is still a negative one as data from HMIC for the 2001/02 to 2004/05 reveal that the decline continues to drop despite far reaching reforms being introduced. For the duration of that period, detection rates fell to 37% from 41% steadily to 31% then 30% over the four years. Although to be fair to the efforts that the police are doing, the percentages do not tell the entire story (HMCPSI & HMIC, 2007). For instance, the reforms have sought to change the definition of what exactly constitutes rape from only vaginal penetration to include that of anal penetration and oral penetration as well in 1994 and 2003 respectively. Thus, between the four years of 2001 to 2005, the number of reported rape cases rose to 13,712 from 9,734, which is a 40.9% rise in the recorded crimes.

The impacts of the Without Consent report

The above statistics speak volumes about the horrific details of how rape has been increasing in the UK over the past few years. The Without Consent report was effective in making the police force to undertake significant reforms that had the effect of transforming rape cases into taking on a more prominent victims’ approach (Payne, 2009). This has been effective in the amendment of government legislation and policies such as the Sexual Offences Act, 2003. These changes are particularly significant when one looks at how the CPS is handling the prosecution of cases and how the police force has changed how rape crimes are reported and recorded.

The CPS has now taken up the greatest responsibility on whether or not suspects of rape are taken to trial or not (CPS, 2003). Initially, the police were the ones tasked with the responsibility of whether to charge a person or not but the Criminal Justice Act of 2003 transferred this task to the CPS. By the CPS taking on more responsibility in investigation, the net result has been that prosecution has taken greater responsibility towards safeguarding the needs of the rape victims. This was achieved by subjecting prosecutors to compliance via the

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Policy for Prosecuting Cases of Rape (Payne, 2009). The CPS has also strengthened the links of its policy directorate with other agencies in criminal justice. An action plan of how to implement proposals of the policy of prosecution has been put in place. The action plan has given rise to the implementation of an ambitious project that provides support and consultancy to police so as to aid in improving investigatory performance.

The police force has become more uniform in how it records rape reports as a result of the disparities that were identified in an inspection report in 2002. The disparities were mainly as a result of the differences in the threshold of exactly what constitutes rape (HMCPSI & HMIC, 2007). The threshold is between a recording of a report alleging rape or recording it as rape once evidence tests have been gathered, showing that it is indeed rape. These variations in recording had made it difficult to gather the exact number of rapes that were reported in the country. The HOCR provided guidelines on how rapes reported ought to be recorded in a uniform manner throughout the country. These guidelines particularly address the ‘no crimes’ which examine the balance of probability of whether a recorded crime has actually been committed. Official crime figures do not include the ‘no crimes’ mainly due to the ambiguity of what exactly constitutes a ‘no crime’. Data from the HMIC show that the ‘no crimes’ that were recorded between 2003 and 2007 comprised between 3- 50% of all the reported rapes in the UK.

Conclusion

The CRP found it incumbent among itself to prepare a substantial briefing report to the public on rape statistics in the UK. The Without Consent report highlights the increases of rape crimes that have been recorded in Britain over the past few decades (CPS, 2003). The reality of the matter is that the stigma associated with rape has been the major stumbling block when it comes to addressing rape crimes. The fact that it is only between 5-25% of rapes that are reported is testament of the unpreparedness of victims to come forward. The low turnout of cases from those reported to those that are subsequently picked up for prosecution and the resulting low conviction rates paint a gleam picture. However, police reforms on how investigations are being handled have undoubtedly been a welcomed reform especially when one looks at it from a victim’s perspective (Newburn, 2007). The fact that investigations are now more victim centered shows that victims have a higher approval rating for the work that the police are doing, currently standing at 43%. Although the general public’s rating of the police and the criminal justice system still remains low, matters will surely change if reforms in handling rape cases are continually pursued. The standardization of the ‘no crimes’ records and the CPS reforms will over time increase the number of cases that are reported. The CPS will inject more professionalism in prosecution due to the expert handling of rape cases from the onset of investigations all the way to successful conviction of the perpetrators (CPS, 2003).

References

Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). (2003). CPS consultation on the handling of rape cases. Retrieved August 18, 2012 from http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/prosecution/rapepolicy.html

Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) & Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). (2007). Without consent: A report on the Joint Review of the investigation and prosecution of rape offences. London: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary Publication.

Home Office (2010). The Stern Review: A report by Baroness Vivien Stern CBE of an independent review into how rape complaints are handled by public authorities in England and Wales. London: Government Equalities Office & Author.

Home Office. (2009). Protecting the public: Supporting the police to succeed. London: Crown.

Jones, H., & Cook, K. (2008). Rape crisis: Responding to sexual violence. Lyme Regis: Russell House Publishing.

King, M., Coxell, A. & Mezey, G. (2002). Sexual molestation of males: Associations with psychological disturbance. British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 153–157.

Maguire, M., Morgan, R., & Reiner, R. (2007).The Oxford handbook of criminology, 4th ed.

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Newburn, T. (2007). Criminology. Collumpton: Willan.

Payne, S. (2009). Redefining justice: Addressing the individual needs of victims and witnesses. London: Crown.

Spalek, B. (2006). Crime victims: Theory, policy and practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.