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Conviction rate for rape is the lowest for any crime type in Scotland

The conviction rate for rape and attempted rape was, for the 10^th year in a row, the lowest for any crime type in Scotland in 2021-22. Just 48% of rape cases that made it to court in 2021-22 resulted in a conviction. The overall conviction rate in Scotland for the same year was 88%. The conviction rate for rape has also decreased from 51% in 2020-21.

These figures are unacceptable but are unsurprising. We hear so often from survivors that their experience of going through the criminal justice system was as traumatic as their experience of sexual violence. Behind all these statistics are survivors who have made the often very difficult decision to report their experience to the police. Our thoughts are with them, and with all survivors who have felt let down by the criminal justice system.

It couldn’t be clearer that urgent reform is needed to how sexual offences are handled by Scotland’s justice system. There is significant evidence that myths about sexual violence influence juries in their decision making. 

We hope that proposals contained within the Scottish Government’s Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill including the introduction of specialist sexual offences courts and scrapping the Not Proven verdict, will go some way to improving survivors’ experience of the justice system. We very much hope that members from across the chamber will support these potentially transformative changes when the Bill returns to the Scottish Parliament.