The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), has said that prosecutions for domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences against women in England and Wales hit a record high in 2015/2016.
Women’s rights groups on Tuesday in a report released in London, attributed the rise to victims’ growing confidence in the justice system.
It revealed that more than 117,000 cases of domestic abuse, rape and sexual offences went to trial in 2015/2016, describing it as a 10 per cent increase on the previous year.
Alison Saunders, Director of Public Prosecutions, said that the number of convictions for such crimes also reached a high with more than 87,000 defendants found guilty of them in 2015/2016, an 11 per cent rise on the year before.
“Today a rape, domestic abuse, sexual offence or child abuse case is more likely to be prosecuted and convicted than ever before.
“More than 100,000 domestic abuse cases were prosecuted in 2015/2016, resulting in more than 75,000 convictions.
“Prosecutions and convictions for rape in 2015/2016 also hit highs of more than 4,600 and almost 2,700 respectively,’’ she said.
Saunders said training for prosecutors and greater resources for specialist units handling rape and serious sexual offences including child sexual exploitation had contributed to the rise in the rape conviction rate.
Polly Neate, Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said survivors of domestic abuse were starting to have more confidence in the criminal justice system, leading to more prosecutions and convictions.
She, however, stressed that much more work is still needed, particularly in understanding of the nature and impact of coercive control, right across the criminal justice system.
Neate said that the disclosure of private sexual images without consent, known as “revenge porn”, was made a criminal offence in April 2015.
“Since then there have been more than 206 related prosecutions.
“The use of the internet, social media and other forms of technology to humiliate, control and threaten individuals is rising,” she said.
Activists like Rachel Krys, co-director of End Violence Against Women Coalition, welcomed the CPS figures but said more needed to be done.
She lamented that it is still the case that the majority of women and girls subject to these crimes do not report them to the police.
Krys commended the specialist services which support the victims in fighting for their survival.
and then