Justice secretary apologises to rape victims for low conviction rates in England and Wales and promises to 'do a lot better'
Speaking to BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Buckland said the report revealed "at all stages of the criminal justice process frankly a failure to deal with complaints made by many thousands of victims".In a foreword to the review, Mr Buckland, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Attorney General Michael Ellis, said: "The vast majority of victims do not see the crime against them charged and reach a court - one in two victims withdraw from rape investigations.
She says she was given an explanation as to why her case was dropped but it was only "very vague". "They didn't call me in to iron out any issues they might have at their end." She cited Home Office research showing up to 3% of rape allegations could be false, which meant 97% of them were not. The report - commissioned in March 2019 - also said the volume of cases going to court should return to "at least 2016 levels" and that regular "scorecards" would be published to monitor progress.
He argued that "for too long" rape allegations have focused on the credibility of the victim rather than the evidence. In November 2019, it was revealed the CPS had introduced a target in 2016 that 60% of rape cases should end in a conviction.The victims' commissioner welcomed the review's proposals but said the government "has a mountain to climb if it is to restore victims' confidence". Dame Vera said it was "disheartening" that the pre-recording of video evidence was not being introduced more widely.
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