Good news - proposed changes to rape prosecution

[QuentinBunbury]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57148705
Proposal for victims to be able to video record their account for use in court. They won't have to take the stand and also can get therapy without waiting for their case to conclude.
Interestingly the article also says that in trial areas the number of guilty pleas was higher in cases using prerecorded evidence. To me that clearly demonstrated that rapists were exploiting the existing system to get off crimes they were guilty of.

About time too.

Yes I heard this. Vera Baird very clear on the reasons , including that women sometimes drop the case because of excessive waiting times for trial. The awfulness of telling your story many times is not justice.

Special Measures have been in place for nearly 20 years, they just haven’t been used to full affect though. Good to see cross examination can be done beforehand.

That’s a real step forward

Finally

Interestingly the article also says that in trial areas the number of guilty pleas was higher in cases using prerecorded evidence. To me that clearly demonstrated that rapists were exploiting the existing system to get off crimes they were guilty of.

YY.

Anything that can help the system work better for victims is a very good thing.

"The victims' commissioner's report found that the guilty plea rate was "notably higher" when evidence was pre-recorded and the process was less traumatic for witnesses."

That's really interesting, I would like to look at the report as I'd love to see the data behind that.
There is some data linked at victimscommissioner.org.uk/news/record-number-of-people-including-43-per-cent-of-rape-victims-pulling-out-of-cases/

which the bbc article did link to, but unclear whether this is the actual report they are discussing or not. I really wish when articles are discussing a specific piece of documentation, data etc they would explicitly link to it to read in full.

Scientific approach based on material evidence and observation that helps victims

Brilliant

Pity that logic isn't applied elsewhere

But still brilliant

"I really wish when articles are discussing a specific piece of documentation, data etc they would explicitly link to it to read in full."

Me too and this habit seems to have died away somewhat, I can't work out if it's lazy journalism or the writers not realising that we have brains and would quite like to look for ourselves.

Great news though, and god bless Vera Baird who seems to have made this her life's work.

Such a positive move. Anything that reduces trauma for victims and speeds up the trial process has to be a positive step.

It's a good start. Let's hope they keep going to improve things.

Definitely long overdue.

Great news, there is such a long way to go to get rapes properly dealt with so glad that something is being done