By Elisha Holt
In the last year, the police saw a 19% increase in the number of sexual offences reported; with the Crime Survey Office for National Statistics saying their survey demonstrated a 22% increase in the number of rapes recorded by the police. However this is only a fraction of offences, as many victims refuse to report to police.
Services such as Survive often find a lot of their clients choose not to report because the benefits out-weigh the costs of reporting, many feeling the loss of family members and friends wouldn’t make the possible conviction worth it.
Another reason victims of sexual violence often don’t report is the fear of judgement, many feel they will not be believed, or the fear of being questioned about the attack puts them off. This is a huge problem for both victims and the justice system as it means victims may not receive the help they need, and offenders may still walk the streets free.
However, Nathalie Reed, administrator at Survive, stated some things have improved in recent years: “You can walk into a police station and say that you’ve been raped, and you won’t get laughed at – there is no judgement there. There’s more pastoral care; a choice between a male or female officer.”
Nathalie shared some thought on how improving the reporting system to make it more multi-faceted may help victims: “They are going to need as many factual bits of data as possible; that’s the legal system, but it would help if victims were really supported through that. If there was more follow up, more natural support to help wellbeing.”
Anna Foster, a services manager for the Independent Sexual Violence advisor, explained that: “The court process can be very lengthy, taking anywhere between 18 months to 2 years, from the point of the victim report to the end of the trial.”
Dani Wardman, chief officer at Survive, also mentioned the 18 – 24-month court process, stating that it needed to be improved to help victims and encourage more people to report. The long trial process and the thought of dragging it out is another reason many victim won’t report to the police.
The criminal justice system is a complex and challenging environment, it’s needing to be factual and evidence based ensures a fair trial for all, however if this is preventing victims speaking out, how fair can it be? It appears evident that more things need to be done to improve the conditions for sexual violence victims when reporting but this is much harder than just changing the law….