Improving criminal justice outcomes in cases of rape and serious sexual assault
In the first instance, the focus of the group will be on rape and serious sexual assault. In the year 2018-19, there were 58,614 reported rapes; in that same period, only 1,867 suspects were charged. Effective and timely use of clinical care and evaluation, science and digital technology all have the potential to improve criminal justice outcomes. The team will take an evidence-based approach to identifying and evaluating interventions to improve the collection, analysis, and interpretation of evidence in a manner that maintains the trust of the complainant, to rapidly eliminate the innocent from enquiries and secure reliable evidence to enable charges to be brought where possible.
Aims
- developing more effective scientific methods for obtaining relevant digital evidence quickly, minimising intrusion.
- undertaking studies to improve the ability of forensic scientists to answer the questions of relevance to courts; and
- evaluating how forensic clinicians, forensic scientists and digital experts can contribute to the overall administration of justice by improving the integration of their work and ensuring its significance is understood by prosecutors, defence teams and courts.
Impact
The most recent analysis of the economic costs of crime, published in 2018, estimate that rape was second only to homicide in terms of its economic impact in 2015/2016. Rape and sexual assault have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, with approximately 560,000 female victims and 140,000 male victims in England and Wales in the year ending March 2018.
A survey of 491 survivors of rape, undertaken on behalf of the Victims’ Commissioner, showed that only 14% agreed that survivors could obtain justice by reporting to the police and only 29% agreed that the police investigation took a reasonable amount of time. This project will improve the capabilities available for analysis and interpretation of digital and physical evidence, to contribute to more rapid and more effective criminal justice outcomes in cases of rape and serious sexual assault.
Media coverage Parliamentlive.tv - Science and Technology Committee
Principal Investigators
Professor of Practice for Forensic Science Policy and Regulation
Visiting Professor
Professor of Forensic Genetics