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Rape Crisis Scotland publishes briefing paper on Carloway Review
Following the UK Supreme court’s Cadder ruling last year, the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill asked Lord Carloway to undertake a review to consider the implications of the ruling and make recommendations.
The Cadder ruling relates to an accused’s right to legal representation during police questioning, and has had a particular impact on sexual offences. Due to the difficulties in obtaining corroboration in sexual offences cases (because they often happen in private, with no witnesses) the police prior to Cadder were often reliant on admissions from the accused to help them build a case. Since the Cadder decision, defence lawyers seem to be routinely advising their clients to make no comment at all during police interviews, which is causing serious difficulties and has the potential to make prosecutions in rape cases even more difficult.
As well as considering questions relating to legal representation for the accused, Lord Carloway has also been considering broader issues relating to evidence, including the requirement for corroboration and whether or not juries should be able to draw an adverse inference if the accused remains silent and refuses to answer any questions. Rape Crisis Scotland has produced a briefing paper outlining our position on these questions raised by the Carloway Review and hope this will be helpful to other agencies planning to respond to the consultation. Click here to download the RCS briefing paper. The deadline for consultation responses is 3rd June 2011.
Now is the time to deliver on key pledges on sexual violence
It is now clear that the SNP will be the next Scottish Government.
Two explicit commitments in their manifesto are of particular interest to anyone concerned with addressing violence against women: continuing funding for Rape Crisis Scotland and Scottish Women’s Aid, and legislating so that in sexual offence trials judges will direct juries not to take into account any delay in reporting a rape or any apparent lack of resistance from the victim / survivor when reaching their decision. Two very important pledges with the potential to make a real difference. Provision of support and access to justice following a crime as traumatic as rape need to be seen as basic human rights. Rape Crisis Scotland looks forward to the implementation of these commitments and to working with the new Scottish Government to improve responses to sexual violence.
Increase in rape convictions in Scotland
New figures released by the Scottish Government show a significant increase in the proportion of rape cases which reach court leading to a conviction.
Out of 92 rapes prosecuted in 2009-10, there were 41 convictions. This compares with 26 convictions out of 85 rape prosecutions the previous year.
The recorded crime figures for the same year show that there were 884 rapes reported to the police. The proportion of reported rapes leading to a conviction was 4.6%[1], compared to 3% in 2008-09. The majority of reported rapes did not reach court – only approximately 10% of rapes were prosecuted. However, of the rapes prosecuted the conviction rate was 44.6%.
2009-10
2008-09
Rapes recorded by the police
884
821
Number of rapes prosecuted
92
85
Number of convictions
41
26
Recent years have seen significant changes in the way rape is investigated and prosecuted in Scotland. This has included the establishment of a dedicated National Sexual Crimes Unit to oversee the prosecution of sexual offences in Scotland. Rape Crisis Scotland is encouraged to see a quite significant increase in the number of rapes which get to court resulting in a conviction.
It remains, however, a matter of concern that so few rapes ever reach court. Rape is a crime which can take a lot of courage to report to the police, and finding out your case is not going to court can be devastating.
It is clear that much remains to be done, not least in changing attitudes to rape to try to minimize the impact that women blaming attitudes may have on jury deliberations. We hope that these new figures are indicative that as a nation we are moving in the right direction in improving access to justice following rape.
[1] The figures relating to rapes recorded by the police and court proceedings statistics are not directly comparable due to the police recording by offence and the court figures recording by accused (an accused might be responsible for more than one incident). However, these are the only figures available to measure the proportion of recorded rapes leading to a conviction.
"Consent" screening and discussion event
Rape Crisis Scotland is holding a special screening of the film “Consent”, which was originally broadcast on Channel 4 in 2007.
New initiative aimed to improve women’s safety
Glasgow Taxis recently launched a new initiative offering to provide a safe, secure and prioritised service to women. The development, which was run initially over the Christmas period, has now been extended indefinitely. The “Female First” service is intended to stop women having to wander about in search of a taxi after a night out or at other times.
All drivers are guaranteed to have undergone Full Enhanced Disclosure Scotland checks and all calls are recorded both digitally and on paper. Payment of the account is monthly, meaning that no cash is required to book one, and the facility means that women can use the account to stop any Glasgow Taxi (with a small flag on top) on the street.
Anyone wishing to register someone for a “Female First” account should contact 0141 554 2222 and quote “Female First”.
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