preview

The Causes And Consequences Of Rape

Decent Essays

DISCUSS THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE POLICE IN BRITAIN ARE COMPETENT TO INVESTIGATE RAPE AND OTHER SERIOUS OFFENCES.

This essay will discuss the extent to which the police are competent to investigate rape and other serious offences. It will identify a gap between reported rapes and prosecuted rapes, with one of the causes as being due to high attrition rates. It will then show that the highest rates of attrition are during the early stages of the police investigation, and then discuss where the police have contributed to the causes of attrition.

The UK has one of the lowest conviction rates for rape in Europe (Hohl & Stanko, 2015, p.1). Rape is one of the most serious but misunderstood crimes, presenting unique challenges and difficulties, not encountered in the investigation of other crimes, including homicide (Angiolini, 2015, p.10). The 2016 annual Violence against Woman and Girls report by the Crown Prosecution Service stated that successful convictions for rape at trial stood at 57.9% (CPS, 2016). However, (Smith, 2015), suggests that just over 1000 rapists are convicted, out of an estimated average 97,000 rapes every year, (just over 1%). It is estimated that between 6-18% of rapes are reported to the police (Stern, 2010). In respect of reported rapes, since 2000, the rate of conversion from a rape being reported to the police to conviction is around 7%. (Home Office & Ministry of Justice, 2013). The number of reported rapes has risen in the last 50 years, but the

Get Access