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09/09/2011
Rape Crime Figures Discrepancies Revealed
New figures released by the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate show wide disparities in the way that police forces in England and Wales record allegations of rape.
According to the figures, the proportion of rapes dismissed as "no crime" varies between 2% and 30%.
Overall, the number of reports of rape classed as "no crime" has decreased.
In its report, which comes after a watchdog warned that recorded crime figures were skewed, the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate warned that some reports of rape were being wrongly classified by police forces.
In turn, there was a danger that these mistakes inflated perceptions of false allegations.
At the time, police in England and Wales classified almost 16% of reports of rapes as "no crime".
That figure has now fallen to under 12% - but data supplied by the Association of Chief Police Officers shows that the average hides wide variations.
Women against Rape spokesperson, Lisa Longstaff, said the figures were insulting to victims.
"The whole practice of 'no criming' does send out a terrible message and the higher the no crime figure is in each area, the worse the message it sends out," she said.
The Freedom of Information figures also revealed variations in "sanction detections" - the police accounting term for cases where a suspect has been charged or cautioned.
In her review last year of how rape cases are handled, Baroness Vivien Stern criticised the repeated use of a figure suggesting that only 6% of rapes lead to convictions.
Statistics show that a majority of rape prosecutions result in a conviction.
David Gee, a former advisor to the Home Office, said there was "such flexibility" in the crime recording rules that forces interpret them differently.
"But we need to look at not only the way it is recorded, but also the way so-called performance in this area is measured.
"This pre-determines police attitudes to allegations at the outset. If they know they are going to be criticised for recording a crime in good faith that is later not prosecuted, then there is a mind-set... there is no incentive to record."
(JG/GK)
According to the figures, the proportion of rapes dismissed as "no crime" varies between 2% and 30%.
Overall, the number of reports of rape classed as "no crime" has decreased.
In its report, which comes after a watchdog warned that recorded crime figures were skewed, the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate warned that some reports of rape were being wrongly classified by police forces.
In turn, there was a danger that these mistakes inflated perceptions of false allegations.
At the time, police in England and Wales classified almost 16% of reports of rapes as "no crime".
That figure has now fallen to under 12% - but data supplied by the Association of Chief Police Officers shows that the average hides wide variations.
Women against Rape spokesperson, Lisa Longstaff, said the figures were insulting to victims.
"The whole practice of 'no criming' does send out a terrible message and the higher the no crime figure is in each area, the worse the message it sends out," she said.
The Freedom of Information figures also revealed variations in "sanction detections" - the police accounting term for cases where a suspect has been charged or cautioned.
In her review last year of how rape cases are handled, Baroness Vivien Stern criticised the repeated use of a figure suggesting that only 6% of rapes lead to convictions.
Statistics show that a majority of rape prosecutions result in a conviction.
David Gee, a former advisor to the Home Office, said there was "such flexibility" in the crime recording rules that forces interpret them differently.
"But we need to look at not only the way it is recorded, but also the way so-called performance in this area is measured.
"This pre-determines police attitudes to allegations at the outset. If they know they are going to be criticised for recording a crime in good faith that is later not prosecuted, then there is a mind-set... there is no incentive to record."
(JG/GK)
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