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Rape victims forced to wait years for justice – report
Trial backlogs for sex offenses have reportedly more than doubled
in some parts of the UK
© Getty Images / Kenko Ito / EyeEm
Rape victims in the UK reportedly face a ‘postcode lottery’ situation where the chances of their case being delayed is nearly two times the likelihood of going to trial on time due to ballooning court-case backlogs. Victims in some areas have had to wait for over five years to get their day in court, according to a Daily Mail report on Monday.
The paper, which cited recent analysis of Ministry of Justice data by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), reported that the list of sex-offense cases awaiting trial had more than doubled in parts of the country over the past two years. This has led to lengthy delays for victims, some of whom have reportedly withdrawn cases, citing “stress” and “suicidal” thoughts.
According to the CBA analysis reported by the paper, the situation is most dire in the Midlands region where some 56% of trials fail to begin on their scheduled date. This is higher than the national average for delayed trials, which has been pegged at 44% starting as scheduled.
As a result, the backlog of sex-offense trials in the area has more than doubled to 1,282 between July and September 2021, from 634 over the same period in 2019.
That works out to more than the combined current backlog for sex cases in London and Wales – 944 cases and 268 cases respectively, the Daily Mail reported. At the national level, there were more than 6,400 outstanding sexual-offense trials across England and Wales as of the end of September.
The delays have reportedly led to campaigners raising concerns about attacks on more victims, while the CBA warned that the justice system was “starved of criminal barristers.” The paper also highlighted problems such as the lack of specialist rape and sexual assault prosecutors, reduced legal aid fees, shortages of judges and defense lawyers.
“Five years or more for a rape complainant to see a trial conclude is rapidly becoming the norm, not the exception,” CBA Chairman Jo Sidhu told the Daily Mail. He added that more lawyers were needed “not just to defend, but also to prosecute and provide the judges needed to tackle record backlogs and delays.”
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry has reportedly pledged a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) investment to bolster court capacity recently. An unnamed spokesman told the paper that the “pandemic [had] created unprecedented issues for the criminal justice system.”
Issues that were obviously not dealt with very effectively. A 5 year period of waiting for justice is not justice at all. For some victims, that's half their life. This shouldn't happen in a western society, pandemic or not.
‘Dangerous’ sex offender on the run in UK
56-year-old Paul Robson escaped from an open prison on Sunday
where he was serving a life sentence
© Chris Radburn / PA Images / Getty Images
Police in Lincolnshire, UK, warned in a statement on Sunday that convicted sex offender Paul Robson, aged 56, has “absconded from HMP North Sea Camp in Boston,” where he was serving his sentence.
“Robson is a dangerous sex offender and while he presents a particular danger to women and young children, I believe he can cause real harm to anyone he comes across,” Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox said, adding that “he could be anywhere in the country” now.
The convicted sex offender was handed a life sentence in 2000 after he entered a woman’s home and sexually assaulted her at knifepoint. He was jailed for the attempted rape and indecent assault of the victim after tying her up and holding a knife to her throat.
Authorities reported him missing from the North Sea Camp facility at around 7am GMT on Sunday but did not state when they believed he might have managed to escape or how long he could have been on the run.
Police described Robson as “white, bald, of slim build, and was last seen with a long goatee beard,” asking the public to contact authorities with “potential sightings so we can take this man off our streets.”
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice showed that 101 criminals fled open prisons during 2021, including four individuals from the North Sea Camp where Robson escaped.
Open prisons are the lowest security level facilities in the UK. People convicted of serious crimes aren’t usually placed in open prisons but can be moved to them towards the end of their sentences if an assessment deems they pose a low risk.
Good assessment! Someone will pay for that piece of lousy work, and it probably won't be the person who did it.
In China, buying trafficked women and children gets less jail time
than buying illegal plants or animals
Case of woman found chained in a hut has prompted debate about
child marriage and women’s rights
Experts say stricter penalties for buyers could help to deter human trafficking,
but most agree it’s not enough
Guo Rui in Guangzhou
18 Feb 2022
Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
If you buy illegal plants or their by-products in China, you could be jailed for up to seven years. Buying endangered animals could result in life imprisonment or death.
But for someone found guilty of buying a trafficked woman or child, the maximum jail term is three years. And if the court rules that the buyer did not abuse the trafficked person or hinder rescue efforts, they may serve less time.
Last month, a video circulating online of a middle-aged woman in a brick hut, apparently kept there by her husband with a chain around her neck, caused outrage across the country.
The remainder of this disturbing story can be found behind a paywall at South China Morning Post
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