Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many complaints of rape were made in each region; and how many of these cases resulted in a (a) prosecution and (b) conviction in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Rape is one of the most complex and challenging offences to prosecute and charging decisions have a profound impact on those involved. The CPS has undertaken extensive work over the last decade to ensure that when reaching prosecution decisions specialist prosecutors are fully equipped to deal with the particular complexities of rape cases.
While the CPS does not hold a record of the number of complaints of rape to the police, we can provide data on the number of rape prosecutions and convictions recorded by the CPS system.
The table below provides the volume of rape prosecutions broken down by CPS Area.
| 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 |
Cymru Wales | 278 | 224 | 233 | 257 | 276 | 217 | 251 | 230 |
Eastern | 212 | 239 | 201 | 224 | 266 | 298 | 275 | 226 |
East Midlands | 293 | 311 | 278 | 252 | 271 | 277 | 320 | 383 |
London North | 495 | 352 | 349 | 376 | 414 | 368 | 430 | 365 |
London South | 366 | 316 | 318 | 354 | 397 | 366 | 416 | 357 |
Merseyside & Cheshire | 142 | 135 | 127 | 120 | 143 | 176 | 243 | 202 |
North East | 220 | 227 | 199 | 194 | 214 | 229 | 285 | 289 |
North West | 478 | 459 | 455 | 454 | 556 | 557 | 601 | 469 |
South East | 299 | 277 | 236 | 260 | 328 | 348 | 440 | 288 |
South West | 222 | 257 | 300 | 288 | 287 | 306 | 296 | 310 |
Thames and Chiltern | 202 | 203 | 181 | 204 | 266 | 269 | 303 | 187 |
Wessex | 197 | 161 | 174 | 207 | 221 | 200 | 184 | 118 |
West Midlands | 396 | 323 | 338 | 346 | 398 | 506 | 644 | 553 |
Yorkshire & Humberside | 408 | 380 | 303 | 355 | 499 | 526 | 502 | 540 |
Total | 4,208 | 3,864 | 3,692 | 3,891 | 4,536 | 4,643 | 5,190 | 4,517 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
The following table provides a breakdown by CPS Area of the volume of rape convictions.
| 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | 2014-2015 | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 |
Cymru Wales | 146 | 140 | 135 | 149 | 150 | 115 | 139 | 140 |
Eastern | 145 | 165 | 136 | 142 | 165 | 167 | 169 | 142 |
East Midlands | 166 | 208 | 188 | 174 | 186 | 179 | 208 | 231 |
London North | 258 | 191 | 187 | 208 | 217 | 197 | 232 | 187 |
London South | 190 | 179 | 180 | 173 | 183 | 197 | 231 | 177 |
Merseyside & Cheshire | 82 | 77 | 90 | 90 | 96 | 100 | 138 | 114 |
North East | 144 | 128 | 126 | 112 | 108 | 125 | 156 | 167 |
North West | 298 | 288 | 283 | 274 | 295 | 342 | 370 | 266 |
South East | 165 | 177 | 151 | 155 | 187 | 175 | 232 | 159 |
South West | 154 | 175 | 198 | 182 | 166 | 194 | 181 | 213 |
Thames and Chiltern | 111 | 125 | 112 | 123 | 157 | 162 | 162 | 111 |
Wessex | 105 | 110 | 117 | 108 | 90 | 99 | 133 | 78 |
West Midlands | 240 | 200 | 227 | 226 | 263 | 309 | 345 | 311 |
Yorkshire & Humberside | 261 | 251 | 203 | 232 | 318 | 328 | 295 | 339 |
Total | 2,465 | 2,414 | 2,333 | 2,348 | 2,581 | 2,689 | 2,991 | 2,635 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the recent change in the proportion of rape cases that result in a conviction; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Buckland
In 2015-16 the CPS conviction rate in rape cases rose to 57.9% from 56.9% in 2014-15. The volumes of convictions reached 2,689. This is the highest volume ever recorded and represents a rise of 108 defendants (4.2%) since 2014-15.
The CPS continues to prioritise its response to cases involving allegations of rape and other forms of serious sexual offending and has taken a number of steps to improve the conviction rate. These include increasing the number of specialist staff within its dedicated Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) Units; providing revised and up-dated specialist training for prosecutors, and developing closer working arrangements with the police, including enhanced arrangements for the provision of early investigative advice to assist the police to build stronger cases.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the fall in the percentage rate of convictions in rape cases between 2012-13 and 2013-14; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The Rape National Scrutiny Panel led by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the National Policing lead for rape, considered the investigation and prosecution of rape cases including their referral from the police to the CPS. A range of issues have been identified that may have contributed to the drop in conviction rates. The joint Crown Prosecution Service / police Rape Action Plan published on 6 June 2014 aims to address these.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many prosecutions have been (a) commenced, (b) resulted in a non-custodial sentence and (c) resulted in a custodial sentence for (i) witness intimidation, (ii) perverting the cause of justice and (iii) conspiracy to pervert the course of justice as a result of incidents arising from cases involving domestic violence in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in magistrates' courts which were flagged as involving domestic violence, rather than the number of defendants or cases prosecuted.
The data is accurate only to the extent that the flag has been correctly applied.
Offences of perverting the course of justice are charged under Common Law, conspiracy to pervert justice, by way of Section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 and intimidation of a witness or juror by way of Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
The table below shows, for each of the last five years, the number of these offences charged and reaching a first hearing at magistrates' courts, which were identified as involving domestic violence.
2009-2010 | 2010-2011 | 2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 { 51 }: Intimidating/threatening or harming a witness or juror | 846 | 859 | 763 | 611 | 686 |
Common Law: Perverting the course of justice (including attempts) | 140 | 136 | 103 | 121 | 150 |
Criminal Law Act 1977 { 1 }: Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
There is no indication of the final prosecution outcome, or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is also often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.
It is not possible to centrally disaggregate offences charged by way of Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to separately identify those offences relating to witnesses from those concerning jurors. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.
The CPS does not hold records of sentences imposed following a conviction. Statistics relating to sentences are maintained by the Ministry of Justice.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many people have been prosecuted under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 for breach of a non-molestation order in each police force area in each year since that Act came into force.
Answered by Oliver Heald
The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service do not identify the number of people prosecuted for a breach of a non-molestation order. Such information could only be obtained through a manual search of records which would incur disproportionate cost.