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Notices and Press Releases

Fawcett : Postcode lottery for rape victims a national disgrace

Commenting on reports that the report (Without Consent published on 31st January 2007) from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate will show that allegations of rape are treated differently in different areas and that prosecutions fail because of attitudes towards victims, Dr Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society, said:

"It is a national disgrace that the treatment that rape victims receive and the chances of their attacker being convicted are determined by their postcode.

"This postcode lottery for victims of rape was revealed nearly a year ago by the Fawcett Society. However, this is not just a problem of some police forces doing well and others badly. Responses to allegations of rape need to improve all over the country so that women receive the help and support that they need at a time of crisis.

"Wholesale reform is needed to give women confidence in the system, deliver justice to victims of rape and prevent violence against women in the first place. Police and prosecutors' attitudes towards victims must be tackled so that the criminal justice system is sensitive to the needs of victims and rapists do not go unpunished.

"More fundamentally, we need to change the public debate about rape, in which violence against women is often seen as acceptable and victims of rape are frequently blamed or disbelieved. The Government must take the lead in exposing the realities of rape and challenging the myths and stereotypes that surround them."

Notes

1. Figures published by the Fawcett Society in March 2006 showed that the rape conviction rate ranged from 13.8% in Northamptonshire to just 1.6% in Suffolk and 0.86% in Gloucestershire. For more details see http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=239
2. For a full list of the regional rape conviction rates for all police forces in England and Wales in 2004 see http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=244