Victims of rape are forced to wait more than twice as long from reporting the crime to police
deciding whether to charge suspect, official figures reveal.
The Crown Prosecution Service data shows that victims waited 78 days on average last year before a case was brought by police.
In 2010-11, the year the Tories took over, it took just 32 days for them to come to a decision.
Shadow Attorney General, Shami Chakrabarti, slammed the 140% increase in time taken.
Here she tells the Mirror of the “shameful failure of the system…”
(Image: Ian Forsyth)
The first job of government is to keep people safe. How many times have you heard that excuse for everything from increased police powers to foreign wars?
But talk is cheap and criminal justice, more expensive.
Everyone I talk to, from victims and police officers to lawyers and judges, tells me the system is on its knees, and the most vulnerable victims of the most serious crimes are paying the price.
When it emerged, that a third of police files are being sent back for more information, a blame game seemed to develop between the CPS and their colleagues in uniform.
There is nothing like finger-pointing to demonstrate over-worked people close to their wits’ end.
(Image: Getty)
Look at sex offences. These have the most terrible long-term effects on victims and should be taken incredibly seriously in any country built on the Rule of Law.
But they are challenging to prove. So police and prosecutors must have adequate numbers, training and tools for the painstaking work of investigating and preparing cases to a high standard within a reasonable time.
Otherwise, over-stretched and demoralised professionals become tempted to de-prioritise sensitive work for fear of failure and criticism.
Prosecutions are down, and waiting times are dramatically up. This is particularly damaging when so much depends on what the complainant and accused say they remember about what happened between them.
Rape complainants hand over their mobile phones in the police station ‘voluntarily’ if they want their cases to go ahead. This isn’t just inconvenient. It makes them feel like they are the real suspects in the dock.
And victims are being discouraged from accessing vital therapy after the most traumatic times of their lives.
To add insult to injury, women’s groups are forced to crowd-fund to hold the authorities to account.
All this in a world-famous legal system where international oligarchs still come to sue each other, but it’s harder to get justice for victims of rape.
You can’t keep people safe on the cheap.
What better reason for a Labour government?
