The Washington Post has a disturbing story on an aspect of British life that I wasn’t aware of: “According to government statistics, only 5.7 percent of rapes officially recorded by police in England and Wales end in a conviction.”
Solicitor General Vera Baird, who oversees criminal prosecutions in England, estimated that [only] 10 to 20 percent of rapes are brought to authorities’ attention. According to government figures, 14,000 cases a year are reported and 19 out of 20 defendants walk free…
Thousands of victims each year once chose not to go to police because of shame, women’s advocates say. Now, the advocates say, the bigger reason is that rape victims feel the system is stacked against them.
Why the low conviction rate? Surveys commissioned by the police forces found a “‘culture of skepticism’ in the justice system when it came to rape cases, and recommended shifting the focus from seeking reasons not to believe the accuser to gathering evidence to support the charge.” (For a U.S. comparison, see this Wall Street Journal response.)
It gets even more outrageous: “Last year, a judge sentenced a 24-year-old man to two years in prison for having sex with a 10-year-old after concluding that the girl had ‘dressed provocatively.’” WHAT? HEL-LO? And there’s also that old standby: Police lost interest in another reported case of rape after the victim admitted she had been “drinking heavily” on the night in question. Said the victim, “If you had told me this was modern-day Kabul, okay. But London?”
Victims here may find juries prejudiced against them, since “public opinion polls show that a sizable proportion—a quarter to a third—of Britons say a rape victim is responsible for the attack if she is drunk or wearing ‘sexy’ clothes. British women’s organizations are, not surprisingly, putting up quite a fuss.
This current climate is actually a step backward: “In the 1970s, the rape conviction rate ran at more than 30 percent. The difference now is that there are far more ‘date rape’ cases.’”
The UK has a very macho culture on some levels (anybody follow soccer?), and I have seen a lot of scantily dressed women in the tube and on the street, especially on weekends. Hey, it’s cold and wet here for much of the year, so it must be a relief to go out in a short skirt and spaghetti straps for a change. And I’ve already blogged on how easy it is to get drunk here. Heck, it’s easy to get drunk anywhere…
Whatever the circumstances, whatever the society, NO should still mean NO. Rape isn’t just a personal crime, it’s a social and political crime as well. It’s a measure of a society’s valuation of its women. I find it disappointing that a culture as civilized as Great Britain is struggling with that concept.
June 2, 2008 at 10:12 am
I wonder if the rise in rape statistics is related to the increase in the population of Muslims, which certainly came about after the 70s. I just finished reading Infidel and the author makes it clear that the strict adherence to the religion makes for the attitude toward women that enables acceptance of rape. It’s a terrific book, by the way.