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News | Conviction rate for rape and attempted rape falls to lowest level since 2008/09

Conviction rate for rape and attempted rape falls to lowest level since 2008/09

New figures published today by the Scottish Government show that the level of convictions in Scotland for rape and attempted rape has fallen for the second year in a row, with only 39% of cases prosecuted leading to a conviction.

Rape stats

Sandy Brindley of Rape Crisis Scotland, said:

“ Rape is a crime which can take a great deal of courage to report, and the past decade has seen increasing numbers of women and men coming forward to report what has happened to them to the police. In a year where there were 1,878 rapes and attempted rapes reported to the police, there were only 98 convictions. The vast majority of reported rapes never make it to court. The most common reason rape survivors are given for this is the requirement in Scotland for corroboration. This disproportionately affects rape cases, and we believe that the time has come to look again at removing the requirement for corroboration.

“We also need to look at why only 2 in 5 cases which reach court lead to a conviction. The Scottish Government recently introduced judicial directions for rape cases, to enable judges to provide factual information to juries about commonly misunderstood issues such as delays in report to the police or lack of physical injury. More needs to be done to ensure that people sitting on rape juries make decisions based on evidence, rather than misunderstandings about reactions to rape.”

“The figures released today show that 17% of rape and attempted trials result in a not proven verdict. This is far higher than for any other crime. ”

Enquiries: please contact Sandy Brindley at Rape Crisis Scotland on 07764167501 or Eileen Maitland on 0141 331 4180 or email info@rapecrisisscotland.org.uk

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