Court backlogs for rape and sexual offences have hit a record high, with the most desperate victims driven to suicide by “devastating” waits for justice.
The logjam of cases in the crown courts surged to 7,859 sexual offence cases and 1,851 adult rape cases by September 2022, according to the latest Ministry of Justice data.
The stark figures coincide with a scathing report into policing, which found that officers had failed to protect women. Rape cases were dropped because DNA evidence was ruined when it was stored in “over-stuffed, dilapidated or broken fridges and freezers” used by the Metropolitan Police.
The Baroness Casey Review, released last week, concluded that Britain’s largest police force is institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic. It found that a “culture of denial” had allowed predators to flourish, and that officers had used their position of power for sexual purposes.
Data on delayed rape trials, obtained via freedom of information requests, revealed that the number of cases put back had more than doubled, from 658 in 2019-2020 to 1,513 in 2021-2022.
The number of trials delayed three or more times almost doubled in the same period – rising from 95 to 188 – while 26 trials had been rearranged on six or more occasions.
A new report by Rape Crisis England and Wales found that survivors of sexual violence are grappling with the longest delays of all crime victims, enduring an average wait of 839 days from reporting the crime to a final court verdict.
The organisation warned that the court delays are damaging the “mental wellbeing” of victims, with some dropping out of the process and others trying to take their own lives.
Chief executive Jayne Butler told The Independent that while all court cases had been hit by the pandemic, barristers’ strikes and staff shortages, sexual violence trials were particularly badly affected.
They are the most likely to involve a not guilty plea – for fear of being placed on the sex offenders’ register – which means they demand more resources and result in a longer trial.
Victims aren’t treated well. They aren’t told what is going on. They aren’t prioritised by the system. This has to be the absolute rock bottom for the system. It can’t possibly get any worse— Jayne Butler
Ms Butler said victims are “almost treated as bystanders” by the criminal justice system, and that they are sometimes unaware that their case is being postponed until they get to court.
She added: “[Victims] have already been through so much trauma, it is absolutely devastating to keep waiting. Victims aren’t treated well. They aren’t told what is going on. They aren’t prioritised by the system. This has to be the absolute rock bottom for the system. It can’t possibly get any worse.”
Ms Butler said the charity had “long been” demanding specialist courts for cases of sexual violence and abuse, in which the judges and court staff have undertaken trauma-informed training to make the process easier for victims.
It also wants rape and sexual abuse cases to be given “priority listing”, which would see them moved more quickly through the system and give victims a guaranteed court date.
At the end of each year, approximately 43 per cent of all new cases for every kind of offence remain outstanding, Ministry of Justice data from 2014 to 2021 shows. It is significantly higher, at 65 per cent, for new sexual offences, and 75 per cent for new adult rape offences.
Ellie Reeves, the shadow minister for prisons and probation, told The Independent: “The number of Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff and courts has fallen since 2010, and the government has left the system powerless to deal with the largest courts backlog on record.
“Rape survivors are now denied justice for years, with a fraction of the number of rapists being punished.”
Ms Reeves, who leads on violence against women and girls in the justice team, said the Labour Party has made it a “national mission to halve levels of violence against women and girls”, adding that a Labour government would establish specialist rape courts.
Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said victims are enduring “further trauma” from “a system that treats them poorly and leaves them in limbo for years”.
She added: “This is compounded by the government’s systematic underfunding of our sector, which is leaving specialist support services struggling to meet demand.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the government is providing “real improvements in the response to rape”, adding: “In the last year alone, the number of rape cases referred by the police to the CPS is up more than 50 per cent, the number of suspects charged has increased by 54 per cent, and convictions are up by 65 per cent compared to last year.
“But we know more needs to be done, particularly so that victims have confidence and feel supported, which is why we’ve quadrupled funding for victims’ services, enabled them to pre-record court evidence earlier and away from defendants, and launched a 24/7 helpline with Rape Crisis.”
