Crown Prosecution Service faces judicial review over policy on rapes as convictions fall to record low
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) faces a judicial review of its policy on prosecuting rapists after rape convictions fell to a record low.
The Court of Appeal backed the legal action by a coalition of women’s groups who claim the slump in convictions that have halved in four years to under 1,500 last year is due to a change in policy by the CPS to “weed out” weak cases.
The legal victory by the End Violence Against Women coalition of women’s groups means there will a full high court hearing into its allegations that the CPS only prosecutes “rock-solid” cases.
The announcement came on the same day that CPS figures showed the number of rapists convicted fell by a quarter in just a year to 1,439 and down from 2,991 in 2016/17.
Prosecutions also fell from 5,190 completed cases in 2016/17 but plunged to 2,102 last year. Home Office figures show just 1.4 per cent of 55,130 rapes recorded by police led to prosecution in the 12 months to March.
Publication of the figures coincides with the CPS’s launch on Friday of its five-year strategy to reverse the decline in prosecutions and convictions.
Its blueprint aims to improve collaboration with the police, offer “clear, proportionate legal advice” to detectives early in an investigation and set up units before now with “dedicated, highly trained prosecutors.”
Max Hill, QC, the head of the CPS, acknowledged the prosecution and conviction rates were “a real problem” but said data from the last three quarters showed it had started to reverse the trend.
“I accept the scale of the problem but we must also accept that looking back three or four years ago there were serious mistakes made and there were cases going to court that should not have gone to court,” he said, referring to high-profile cases that collapsed after new evidence came to light.
Other figures suggest police are being deterred from referring cases for prosecution amid claims the bar for evidence has been raised and fears that prosecutions will fail.
Police referred 2,747 cases in 2019/20 to the CPS, a reduction of 40 per cent in three years and the lowest number since the figures were first published in 2014/15.
Campaigners claim the CPS changed its policy to weed out “weak” cases and boost conviction rates, a charge denied by Mr Hill who said there had been no change and prosecutors based decisions on an established code.
Harriet Wistrich, founder of the Centre for Women's Justice, said: "We have heard anecdotally, police won't refer a case where there isn't a huge amount of corroborating evidence where there is a dispute as to consent."
She added that slump in prosecutions and convictions was “potentially sending out a message that rape is de-criminalised, virtually.”
Dame Vera Baird, the Victims’ Commissioner, who in July claimed rape had effectively been decriminalised, said the CPS should immediately reverse its policy to take “only rock-solid” prosecutions.
“The CPS have to change its practice in rape now, not in half a decade.These rape statistics are utterly shameful with 1,500 fewer rapists being convicted than three years ago. Rape is a serial offence and rapists Carry on until they are stopped,” she said.
A joint statement from the National Police Chiefs' Council's leads for rape, domestic abuse and charging said the fall in the number of convictions was "very concerning for us".
It said there were a number of reasons behind the drop in referrals, many due to changes in the way forces operate.
"Over recent years we have worked hard with the CPS to streamline the process and have introduced local 'gatekeepers' who can test evidence and give investigators advice, helping to improve cases, without the necessity for a referral," the statement said.
"However, we are hearing from our officers that it is becoming harder to achieve the standard of evidence required to charge a suspect and get a case into court. Victims tell us clearly how important it is to them to have the evidence tested in this way.
"Investigators are working incredibly hard to try and reach that standard, but in some occasions when they are unable to do so they are taking local decisions through gatekeepers and supervisors."
