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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Change of policy in rape cases ‘was to counter bad publicity’

8 replies

highame · 27/01/2021 08:35

An article in the Times today. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/change-of-policy-in-rape-cases-was-to-counter-bad-publicity-96c2rtrnc Does anyone have a share token

After 4 major acquittals a change. I wonder why they didn't re-think how rapes are prosecuted rather than protection of reputations

OP posts:
persistentwoman · 27/01/2021 08:39

Here you are highame. Share token:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b0f7d03a-600e-11eb-8bcc-6c1a7cf205dd?shareToken=4fdea5671fa8c590ba8fcc2ecbbf8aaa

MaudTheInvincible · 27/01/2021 13:06

Thank you for the share token. Good to see some scrutiny of the appalling conviction rates.

DdraigGoch · 27/01/2021 21:28

From the general instructions issued to all police officers serving in the Met in 1829:
5. To seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy

This principle is just as relevant nearly 200 years later. Police (and prosecutors) shouldn't be worrying about what the press will say, they should stick to doing what is right.

I can see both sides - there were some sloppy investigations in the run up to 2016 which did lead to some men being wrongfully imprisoned - but prosecutors shouldn't be influenced by past experience, they should approach every case with an open mind.

NiceGerbil · 27/01/2021 22:02

This is all one big fucking mess. There have been thread after thread and I could go on for hours. I don't have time to put down all the arguments so will just put my main points and comments on this.

Things that have been unhelpful.

The collapsed cases around mobile phone evidence. There was one particularly high profile one.
In the papers the focus was on the collapsed rape cases. The proportion of collapsed cases for other crimes was the same. The media focussed only on rape giving the impression it was peculiar to that crime. Then the thing where they were making women sign something which said if they didn't hand over their mobile at a really early stage, they were unlikely to investigate...www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rape-victim-phone-police-investigation-form
All of this reporting sent a strong message to rape victims. Another massive barrier to reporting on top of the ones already in place

There was the ched Evans case and how the victim had to change identity 3 times. How he was convicted and then quashed. And the case with the rugby players in ?NI. Both heavily publicised again both really saying think twice before you report.

Going back a bit John warboys, Reid.

Sapphire unit fabricating evidence etc.

The no criming stats and how they varied around the country.

Reports of ? forget the name of the thing, sort of like a caution being given for rapes reported.

On and on and on drip drip

Cressida dick saying they weren't interested in historical cases (CSA?) Or where the victim knew the assailant (date rape)

...

What do you get? What the police etc want. Lower reporting. Lower prosecution.

In general society sees it as an occupational hazard of being a woman, rape myths abound. The police are interested in proper crime, burglery, drugs, etc. Things that are more cut and dried. Rape is tricky, really prevalent, and a pita for them. They've made it legal essentially.

That's kind of a brain dump sorry!

SunsetBeetch · 28/01/2021 09:19

Dump away, Gerbil. There are numerous things to untangle here aren't there?

OvaHere · 28/01/2021 10:24

@NiceGerbil

This is all one big fucking mess. There have been thread after thread and I could go on for hours. I don't have time to put down all the arguments so will just put my main points and comments on this.

Things that have been unhelpful.

The collapsed cases around mobile phone evidence. There was one particularly high profile one.
In the papers the focus was on the collapsed rape cases. The proportion of collapsed cases for other crimes was the same. The media focussed only on rape giving the impression it was peculiar to that crime. Then the thing where they were making women sign something which said if they didn't hand over their mobile at a really early stage, they were unlikely to investigate...www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rape-victim-phone-police-investigation-form
All of this reporting sent a strong message to rape victims. Another massive barrier to reporting on top of the ones already in place

There was the ched Evans case and how the victim had to change identity 3 times. How he was convicted and then quashed. And the case with the rugby players in ?NI. Both heavily publicised again both really saying think twice before you report.

Going back a bit John warboys, Reid.

Sapphire unit fabricating evidence etc.

The no criming stats and how they varied around the country.

Reports of ? forget the name of the thing, sort of like a caution being given for rapes reported.

On and on and on drip drip

Cressida dick saying they weren't interested in historical cases (CSA?) Or where the victim knew the assailant (date rape)

...

What do you get? What the police etc want. Lower reporting. Lower prosecution.

In general society sees it as an occupational hazard of being a woman, rape myths abound. The police are interested in proper crime, burglery, drugs, etc. Things that are more cut and dried. Rape is tricky, really prevalent, and a pita for them. They've made it legal essentially.

That's kind of a brain dump sorry!

Great post NiceGerbil
OvaHere · 28/01/2021 10:27

I think this also ties in with the huge reluctance to include women in any kind of hate crime legislation (see Scotland). They know it's so widespread the resourcing will be hard so unlike other protected characteristics they want us to live with it as 'just one of those things' or 'that's just how it is'.

golduponthetoe · 28/01/2021 18:34

And now the vanishingly small number of women who see their attackers locked up get the added burden of knowing that - rather than an outcome of making the world a little bit safer - their attacker may end up incarcerated with vulnerable women who they may then to go on to assault.

It's almost like women are punished for reporting rape at every, single turn.

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