WUNRN
2009-10-20
|
UK
Between 70-90% Rapes Thought to Go Unreported …and 94% of Reported Cases
Don't End in a Conviction |
|
Researchers
from the University of Surrey have revealed that commonly-held attitudes
towards rape are stopping women reporting incidents of sexual assault and
stopping attackers from being convicted. |
(Media-Newswire.com)
- Researchers from the University of Surrey have revealed that commonly-held
attitudes towards rape are stopping women reporting incidents of sexual assault
and stopping attackers from being convicted.
Fear of not being believed, not wanting to get their attacker - who is often
known to them - into trouble and a sense that they could or should have avoided
the assault mean only a fraction of rape cases are being reported. Of those
reported, 50-66% are dropped by police, and of the remaining cases that go on
to be considered by the Crown Prosecution Service, 33-50% are discontinued.
About 14,000 cases were reported last year to police, but academics suggest
there to be seven times as many unreported cases. Professor Jennifer Brown and
Dr Miranda Horvath from the University of Surrey’s Department of Psychology
have been examining the shocking statistics through funding made available by
the British Psychological Society. They assembled a group of international
academics to review current research findings relating to the problem of
‘attrition’ – when victims are reluctant to report rape in the first instance,
police choose not to pursue cases, prosecutors drop referred cased before
trial, and jurors prefer to acquit than find defendants guilty.
The group found that there was a vicious cycle of public attitudes towards rape
which ultimately led to these low levels of conviction. For the vast majority,
the ‘stranger in the bushes with a knife’ story is the only one that constitutes
‘real rape’. When discussing or considering incidents that don’t conform to the
stereotype, people often blame the victim – for example presuming that women
provoke rape through their appearance, implying that they exaggerate assault
behaviour, exonerating perpetrators by agreeing that once a man is aroused he
is unable to rationally control his actions, and suggest that only women who
frequent bars or get drunk - get raped.
The group are now keen to advocate more public education about the realities of
rape, which often vary dramatically from the media-driven image of the unknown
attacker in a dark alley. Dr Miranda Horvath said:
“What people do not realise is that more often than not the victim knows their
attacker and the assault takes place without visible injury. If people were
aware of facts like these more victims may report their assault and juries may
be less likely to acquit defendants in court, and as a result more criminals
would be convicted.”
The persistence of inaccurate stereotypes about rape mean victims are reluctant
to come forward, and also that police and prosecutors anticipate the jury’s
reluctance to convict when they decide which allegation to pursue . The
researchers found that on the rare occasions that victims do report their assaults,
it is primarily driven by the fear of other women suffering at the hands of
their attacker.
Efforts have been made to improve the investigation of rape cases - with all 43
UK police forces currently being asked to draw up sexual violence action plans,
being allocated ‘rape champions’ to oversee their roll out, and the setting up
of Sexual Assault Referral Centres ( SARCs ) in each police force by 2011.
There is nevertheless still a huge reluctance among victims to come forward,
and for jurors to convict.
The collection of research papers have been edited by the lead researchers into
a book, called Rape: Challenging Contemporary Thinking.
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