Only 5% of reported rapes leads to a successful prosecution. And only a quarter of rapes are reported. The UK has the lowest conviction rate of any other european country. Some countries convict 12 times as many as we do.
The low conviction rate is blamed on:
- Scale of false allegations over-estimated
- Subjective judgements made about victims' credibility
- CPS has no criteria for specialist rape prosecutors
- Detection rates vary between 22% and 93% for different police forces
- Inconsistency over the way forensic doctors examine victims
- Lack of training for frontline officers
- Authorities must challenge claims of consent "more vigorously"
- Police and prosecutors should make better use of evidence showing defendant's "bad character"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7090065 .stm Can this terrible situation be improved? Can our society be made to change?