Rape Crisis Scotland

Aims and objectives of this evaluation

The aims of the evaluation are overlapping and are specified by RCS as to:

• Establish the nature of the rape crisis support services available to survivors

• Assess the effectiveness of these services

• Identify any gaps in rape crisis service provision

The objectives are to:

• Identify the extent, quality and diversity of rape crisis support services currently available to survivors of sexual violence

• Identify any gaps in existing rape crisis service provision

• Assess the impact and effectiveness of rape crisis service provision

• Assess to what extent the national helpline and local rape crisis centres provide integrated support to survivors

Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) commissioned this literature review in the context of considering the extent to which the national RCS helpline is integrated with local rape crisis centres in Scotland.

This is connected to development work by RCS to clearly specify how the organisation, national and locally, supports survivors of sexual violence and how that might be quality assured. This is important for ensuring high quality services but also for considering future funding in a context of reduced resources and in which other organisations, generic and specialist, also support survivors of sexual violence.

The review considers the pros and cons of providing dedicated sexual violence services. It also summarises information about the nature of sexual violence; the response in Scotland; and what survivors want.

‘It’s the difference between having quality of life and not’ : Support for survivors of sexual violence: the Rape Crisis response

Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS), the national office for the network of centres in Scotland, provides a national helpline and email support for anyone (aged 13 and over) affected by sexual violence. The 13 autonomous local member centres (rape crisis centres/RCCs) support women who have experienced sexual violence at any time in their lives. Some centres support men who have experienced sexual violence. RCCs also support families and friends of survivors and are a source of information for agencies such as health, housing and social work. All centres and the national helpline are working towards agreed national service standards published in 2012.

In 2012 RCS commissioned an evaluation of support provided by the national helpline and local centres which included an assessment of the extent to which the national helpline and local rape crisis centres provide integrated support to survivors. The evaluation included interviews with local centres and survivors who described the support they received and the difference this made to them. This paper summarises some key points from the evaluation, particularly the feedback from survivors; and an accompanying literature review which looked at the pros and cons of providing dedicated sexual violence services.

A report on what has been happening within Rape Crisis Scotland during 2012. This contains the most detailed statistical information published by us to date on the nature and extent sexual violence experienced by survivors contacting rape crisis centres in Scotland.

A new issue of Rape Crisis News for Winter 2011/12, looking at various aspects of the Scottish criminal justice system's response to rape.

The Rape Crisis Scotland Annual Report for the financial year 2010- 2011

As the rape crisis movement in Scotland movement celebrated its 30^th anniversary in 2006, Rape Crisis Scotland decided to undertake an oral history project, and recorded a total of 33 interviews with women in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and further afield.

This document puts together the testimony of many of the women who were involved in the earliest years of the development of a rape crisis movement in Scotland, and tells the story of why and how it emerged, and what it meant to them to be part of this unique piece of Scottish herstory.

Note

This document is by no means an exhaustive account of the experiences of women who were involved in Rape Crisis in Scotland during its first 15 years. There are many women whose names and contributions remain unrecorded but who nevertheless played just as significant a role as the women whose testimony is documented here. Their words pay tribute to the determination, resilience, ingenuity, courage and compassion of all the women whose monumental efforts forged the Scottish Rape Crisis movement which continues the fight against sexual violence today.

Rape Crisis Scotland Annual Report 2010

Examines concerns around the way in which disclosure of personal records is used in sexual offence trials and in particular the impact of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2010 on this issue.

Takes account of the latest version of the Crown Disclosure Manual.

RCS commissioned this research against a backdrop where there have been long standing concerns about the response of the Scottish legal system to complainers of sexual offences. Women in contact with rape crisis centres do not speak highly of their experience of the justice process. Particular difficulties arise in relation to their status as a witness of the crime perpetrated against them, and the role of the Crown Office in acting in the public interest: women consistently tell rape crisis that they feel throughout the process that there is no one representing their interests.

This report considers the features of Scottish criminal procedure and evidence that exacerbate the problems currently facing complainers and that shape the response the criminal justice system can currently make. It explores how independent legal representation operates in other jurisdictions and considers the feasibility of its introduction in Scotland.

Introduction to Rape Crisis Scotland support services in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Polish, Punjabi, Slovak and Urdu

A report on what has been happening with the Rape Crisis Scotland service during 2009