Police consider rape ‘regretful sex’, Operation Soteria finds

Today (15th December 2022) the government has published its Operation Soteria Bluestone one year report, as well as an 18 month update on the progress of its Rape Review.

Operation Soteria Bluestone

Operation Soteria was one of the most promising developments to come out of the government’s rape review last year, because it suggested a move to a model of rape investigations that focused on the suspect and their previous offending behaviour, rather than making the victim feel like the one under investigation.

Responding to the Operation Soteria Bluestone report, Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“We are deeply frustrated that it’s taken so long for the government to publish this critical report. Over six months ago, women’s organisations wrote an open letter to the former Home Secretary stating our concerns that significant findings about the police response to victims and survivors of rape were being shielded from public scrutiny.

This report serves to further highlight what women’s organisations have long known: that cultural issues of misogyny, sexism and racism in policing impact whether or not victims have access to justice, as well as how they are treated during the process – being disbelieved, blamed and stereotyped.

This is compounded by serious workforce issues including a lack of specialism and experience when it comes to investigating rape and other serious sexual offences, with officers shockingly undermining the seriousness of this violence. These latest findings are alarming and follow on the heels of other reports raising issues with police perpetrated abuse, questionable recruitment processes, vetting failures and the mishandling of sexual misconduct investigations.

All of these seemingly endless findings expose the underbelly of policing and the extent to which the police are failing in their duties to women and girls every day. There’s a long road ahead of us and radical transformation needed to improve this appalling situation and instil any trust and confidence in the criminal justice system for women.”

Rape Review: 18 months on

We welcome the launch of the new 24/7 Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Line run by EVAW member Rape Crisis England and Wales, and developments in technology which seek to reduce the burden of intrusive demands for the evidence needed from a victim/survivor’s phone.

We welcomed the introduction of Section 28 (pre-recorded cross examination for vulnerable witnesses) as a means to try and reduce the trauma often experienced by survivors going through the criminal justice system. However, we have been concerned about the lack of resources to support it and joined up thinking in its implementation, and question how workable it currently is on the ground. We await the evaluation of the scheme and call upon the government to sufficiently resource this work to ensure the effects are felt by survivors. 

Claims that victims of rape are now seeing significant improvements in the criminal justice system’s response to rape are based on increases in the volume of rape cases charged by the CPS, which is up by two thirds from 2019. While it is positive to see we are moving in the right direction, we have not yet reached the charging levels last seen in 2016, which was already considered a low bar.

We are also concerned about broad claims of ‘success’ when we continue to lack data about which victims this success applies to. Without disaggregated data on protected characteristics of victims and survivors, we do not know if these marginal improvements are felt by all, especially those who are being most failed by the criminal justice system – for example Black and minoritised women, disabled women, LGBTQ+, and migrant survivors.

Andrea Simon, Director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said:

“There may be some green shoots of progress in the prosecution and conviction of rape, but let’s be clear: we are still in the very early stages of even beginning to transform how our broken justice system treats rape and rape survivors. The government’s own targets are a very low bar, and women continue to experience the criminal justice system as a site of re-traumatisation and further harm.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Lengthy delays compound survivors’ negative experiences of the justice system, and prove a significant barrier to justice, with many left with no option but to drop out of the system.”

ENDS

Media contact

Sinead Geoghegan, Communications Manager, EVAW: 07960 744 502 media@evaw.org.uk