Clause 1 - Rape
Sexual Offences Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Woking, Conservative)
Welcome to the Chair, Mr. Gale—it is good to see you. Before lunch, I was referring to amendment No. 22, which sets out two types of rape. It reflects something of an artificial approach, but I drafted it to enable a discussion to take place on the difficulties faced by courts in respect of convictions for rape.
I repeat my argument that rape is now an offence made up of a number of categories. The most straightforward and easy case for anyone to deal with is complete stranger rape. It forms a minority of rape cases, but it is more straightforward in terms of consent, the trial, and the jury's position in assessing the evidence. Other cases are not so straightforward, involving, for example, an allegation of rape either by an existing partner or by a person with whom there had been a previous sexual relationship.
I wish to set out the sort of problem that a jury might face. Let us consider a 26-year-old man with an otherwise unblemished reputation who is in work, of good character and who had had a sexual relationship with a woman of a similar age. The relationship finishes. Some months later, they meet again and drink together at a club. Perhaps after pressure from the young man, sex takes place during the evening. Let us suppose that the young man is charged with rape because the woman said that she did not consent to sex and that she was under severe pressure. The case goes before the court.
Juries find such cases very difficult to decide, as do the courts to pass sentence. One reason why there are so many acquittals in rape cases is that a jury faced with such a young man will often strain every sinew to bring in a not guilty verdict, mainly because the sentence for such a young man with no previous convictions who is involved in such a fight in the Crown court will inevitably be five years or thereabouts. They jury does not want that to happen.