Clause 1 - Rape
Sexual Offences Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr Humfrey Malins (Woking, Conservative)
With great respect, my point is a very good one. [Laughter.] I shall tell the hon. Lady why. Let us suppose that the defendant is giving evidence. Before he does so, his barrister will ask him if he has ever been in any kind of trouble before. If the answer is no, he is thus revealed as a man of previous good character. The judge, in summing up, will give the jury a specific direction as to his unblemished character and how that should be taken into account. That relevant point illustrates the difficulty faced by juries.
We all know that sexual offences, especially rape, are under-reported. One hesitates to use statistics, because they are not entirely reliable. There could be X thousand rapes reported in one year: some cases go to court in the same year, some do not go to court until the next year and some only go to court for sentencing the year after. Although year-on-year figures can never be deemed entirely accurate, they may be illustrative none the less.
The Committee will be interested to hear that in 2000–01 some 8,000 rapes were recorded by the police. Surely, that was not the total number of rapes committed. The findings of the British crime survey—a computerised self-completion survey of some 30,000 or so adults—gives a much more complete picture, because it covers unreported, and therefore unrecorded, crimes. The figures from that survey suggest that only one in seven rapes are reported to the police and thereby recorded.
Why is there so alarmingly little reporting of rape? In most cases, women are raped or sexually assaulted by men they know. Around one half of all rapes are committed by a current partner and a high proportion of rapes are committed by a previous partner. That is one factor that makes it less likely that a woman who has been raped will go to the police. In contrast, stranger rape accounts for less than 10 per cent. of all rapes.
What happens when rapes are recorded and investigated? Only 25 per cent. of the 8,000 rapes reported in 2000–01 resulted in a court case. Of the 2,000 cases that went to court only 550 or thereabouts—approximately 25 per cent.—resulted in a guilty verdict. There is something strange about that, given that the average percentage of convictions on a not guilty plea across the board in the Crown court is about 70 per cent. or a little higher. Why is the figure so low for rape?
I have already mentioned the difficulties facing juries. There is perhaps a tendency to acquit even in the face of overwhelming evidence of guilt of rape within partner-type relationships, or of rape involving people who previously had a relationship. One has only to consider the average sentence to realise that a jury takes on a huge responsibility when it produces a verdict on rape, particularly on a young man with no previous convictions. The average sentence nowadays is some six years on a guilty plea to rape, and seven years on a not guilty plea resulting in a conviction.
We must put ourselves in the position of a jury faced with a rape allegation against the kind of young man that I described and realise that its task is difficult for two reasons. First, and principally, it is difficult because the jury recognises the enormity of convicting a person with no previous convictions, who has had an acknowledged previous sexual relationship with the girl, when they know that the result after a contested case is likely to be a seven-year sentence and total ruin. I am afraid that that is a fact of life and something ought to be done about it.
Secondly, leaving aside my last point entirely, juries also have difficulty convicting because often, particularly in non-stranger rapes, there is no evidence beyond that of the man and the woman; evidentially the cases are difficult, particularly with regard to consent. That problem is made worse nowadays by the fact that young men and women—not just 17 to 19-year-olds, but people in their twenties and early thirties—engage in much more heavy binge drinking than was the case years ago. Many rapes arise from circumstances in which alcohol has had a huge influence on either or both parties. That presents an evidential difficulty because memories naturally become blurred, and sometimes what happened the night before is almost forgotten.
Why have I tabled the amendment? I believe that many juries would be more prepared to give a guilty verdict if they were of the view that a six or seven-year sentence for the defendant would not be automatic. I am not at any stage seeking to say that rape is other than a very serious offence. However, I hope that there are Committee members who will follow my argument, namely, that there is that reluctance.