24 February 2023
In this week’s NLJ, Michael Zander KC reports on research out this week that reveals the government’s plan to tackle low conviction rates in rape cases has been based on a fundamentally flawed premise.
The study, by Professor Cheryl Thomas, director of the Jury Project at University College London, reaches conclusions that contradict the basis of the government’s 2021 ‘End-to-end rape review report’, namely the reasons for an unprecedented drop in charging levels for rape since 2016. In fact, Professor Zander writes, ‘the precipitous fall in rape charging was part of a systemic fall in charging for all offences’.
Professor Zander highlights several assumptions about rape cases that could, potentially, be mistaken and backs Prof Thomas’s recommendation that in order for policies in this important area to be effective, they must be premised on actual facts and not perceptions.
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