New rape prosecution guidance

[notjustapotforsoup]

Hurrah for Keir Starmer link

"New guidance for prosecutors says they should treat "very carefully" cases of people retracting rape allegations.

Last month, a woman was jailed after retracting a rape claim, but freed when the appeal court heard she had suffered violent abuse by her husband.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said such a decision must be examined, including whether the person was "under pressure or frightened".

Any resulting prosecution in England and Wales will now need DPP approval."

.......

"The DPP is also stressing the need for prosecutors to ignore the possibility of jurors being swayed by certain "myths and stereotypes" about rape when deciding whether there is sufficient evidence to bring a prosecution.

Examples of those include the belief that if a woman has no physical injuries then she must have consented, and the belief that a delay in reporting a rape suggests the allegation is false, because a genuine victim would report the crime immediately.

The CPS says such assumptions "have bedevilled... rape cases".

"Cases should be judged entirely on the merits of the evidence: myths and stereotypes have no place in a criminal justice system underpinned by basic human rights," Mr Starmer said.

"Rape victims deserve justice and I am determined that we will deliver it.""

It is good that he is taking it seriously. There was a woman on here the other day whose ex-dp threatened to throw her and her unborn dd off a bridge after she went to the police about him raping her, so she quite understandably went and told them she had lied.

there was a bit of negativity in the Guardian report:
'But campaigners said that women were still being betrayed by the criminal justice system. Lisa Longstaff, of Women Against Rape, said: "We are working with several women who have been wrongly accused of making a false allegation of rape ? their conviction is a miscarriage of justice resulting from a negligent and biased investigation into their rape. One of these prosecutions went ahead despite our raising it with Mr Starmer. Will his personal involvement bring these injustices to an end, or merely reinforce them?"'

I don't see how this can not be a good thing overall though. Would be interested to see what others (Dittany?) say.

Also glad to see Keir Starmer taking this seriously, although I'm not entirely convinced, especially given what Women Against Rape say (thanks for posting that, seth).

Do hope the poor woman is now safe, that she has her children with her... and that her ex suffers some form of justice, somehow.

Despite the reservations ( with which I entirely agree), I do think that having the DPP making public statements about rape myths can only be positive and hopefully the buck stopping with him will ensure more accountability than is evident at present.