British Report Reveals Disturbing Discrepancies In Treatment of Rape Victims

A new report, released by the British government, reveals troubling differences in the ways that rape victims are treated by police officers, depending on the victim’s state of sobriety, as well as the victim’s race or socioeconomic status. The report, conducted by a lawyer named Sara Payne, whose daughter was murdered by a pedophile in 2000, is part of a cross-governmental stratedy designed to tackle violence against women and girls; it is also part of an effort to address Britain’s low rape conviction rate, which stands at around six percent.

In her report, Payne talked to focus groups of victims (for the purpose of the study, these were all adult women), police officers and Crown Protective Services. Her findings were incredibly disturbing. As is typical when talking about reporting of rape, the victims were concerned with being believed. However, the victim focus groups emphasized how important the first contact with law enforcement officials can be, in terms of continuing forward to prosecution.

Payne writes, “Women felt that the attitudes and response of police officers need to change and rape needs to be treated more seriously; they wanted a greater investment in ensuing that the police provide a believing, sensitive and consistent response.”

This is not the kind of supportive treatment that the victim focus groups reported receiving. Police reactions ranged from claims that intimate-partner rape was “just domestic assault” (a horrible statement in itself) to telling the victim that a rape was simply a “one-night stand the victim regretted.” However, the police were not the only people highlighted as unsupportive and cruel in the aftermath of rape. Doctors and child protective services were reported as suspicious and skeptical of rape victims.

Payne spoke to police officers and CPS officials, who, while saying that they felt their force’s policies did not reflect what the victims said, admitted that they knew of “officers who can be skeptical of victims for numerous reasons, such as when the victim had been drinking, had made previous allegations, were from a certain area, had an offending history themselves, or simply because they did not behave in the way they would expect a victim to behave (for example, the victim was not obviously distressed).”

The officers with whom Payne spoke all agreed that “more training on the realities of rape, and how victims respond, would be useful.” They also said that the attitudes of their superiors made a huge difference, and that many of these changes needed to come from the top.

The report did not focus entirely on the issue of belief, however. Victims also said that there was inadequate information about the criminal justice system, and that because of this, they were unable to make informed decisions. They were also treated inconsistently by the criminal justice system. Victims in some areas received excellent treatment, while others did not. The police had trouble interacting with health services, and services provided to victims afterward were often in isolation.

Payne provides a wide range of problems and solutions, which can be seen in the report. One of the most interesting, however, has to do with the role of teaching children about rape and sexual violence in schools, because school systems in Australia recently began programs to address this very issue. The programs are part of a major push in Victoria, an Australian state, to end violence against women. The Herald-Sun reports that “possible classroom activities include students acting out scenes of sexual coercion after which students would suggest more appropriate behavior.” However, there has already been a significant backlash against the programming from people who say that “strident feminist propaganda won’t wash with boys.”

It will be interesting to see how these programs progress, and whether they will spread to other countries or parts of Australia. But the attitudes of people who think that “compulsory feminism” won’t impact violence against women certainly reflect the issues that led the British government to conduct Payne’s report in the first place (and really, what’s wrong with “compulsory feminism”?). Rape victims clearly think that police officers and government officials need to be re-trained in dealing with rape; and when best to teach people about the harmful effects of sexism and unequal power relations between men and women than elementary school? Another recommendation from Payne’s report was that public attitudes toward rape and other forms of sexual violence be challenged, and surely reactions to this new school program illustrate that need even more vitally.

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Nancy B.

11:22AM PST on Dec 22, 2009

Reading these mostly intelligent and compassionate comments - What about a campaign poster that shows a policeman talking to a man, saying 'If she tells us you've raped her, we will believe her.' That might give people some second thoughts!

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greenplanet e.

6:15PM PST on Dec 10, 2009

Part of the problem is that juries are uneducated and bring the same sexist and misogynist myths and stereotypes to the courtroom as the police and many of the general public still hold. So rapists get off for stupid reasons such as the victim was drunk, or the jury believes the man's story that "she asked" for it or whatever.

I don't think the average ignorant person off the street is qualified to judge sexual assault cases -- there should be specialists deciding the outcomes of rape trials, not your average joe or jane.

Daniel J.

8:54AM PST on Dec 4, 2009

6% is disgusting.Ive had 22 friends that i have been close enough to tell each other all of our secrets 9 female 13 male. only one of the females had been raped, by a stranger(reported but never found the guy) and another molested by her father(never reported) of the males only 4 were not sexually abused in some way,3 of them are brothers and were all molested by their mother, 7 more were molested or raped by fathers,uncles or family friends, and the other 2 raped by a homosexual serial rapist, i myself was molested by my school teacher for a year and a half, none of the males ever went to the police,so in that circle 0% conviction rate. I would like to add that of the males that were molested 1 is now a convicted rapist,another raped someone and recieved street justice and was brain damaged, all of us have led violent lives, and been drug addicts or alcoholics,im the only 1 who hasnt been to prison. Of all males and females that have never been touched none have been to court let alone jail,but a few are either pot smokers or alcoholics. often the abused tend to either abuse themselves or others.

Monica D.

6:13AM PST on Dec 2, 2009

A six percent conviction rate seems extraordinarily low. I imagine that many rape victims must feel that they have very little hope of justice. It is sad that victims are often not believed.

Sometimes I think that many people might have a strange innate tendency not to believe victims generally. Perhaps it is a kind of defence mechanism in operation.

Here in New Zealand, there have been several high profile cases in recent years involving high ranking police officers who have themselves been alleged to have committed numerous rapes. At least one case resulted in a conviction.

6:10AM PST on Dec 2, 2009

Aaaaaad D.

5:08PM PST on Nov 29, 2009

People tend to be biased, always. Police, the judge, teachers, everybody is biased somehow. If there is a way to create equality between women and men, it starts and not being feminist, but understanding guys, and guys not hating feminism, but understanding girls.

Of course we have been trying to do this for eons, and with women becoming less powerful we became suppressed and ignorant. With the rise of our power will come the rise of a great many things, but we must first educate each other about each other and try to be compassionate about it.

JE L.

12:51PM PST on Nov 29, 2009

I am saddened but not surprised by this report. It's probably relatively the same everywhere, which is why so many women don't even bother to report the crime.

Elizabeth C.

4:46AM PST on Nov 29, 2009

I know a tiny, terminally ill 19 year old in the UK who is NIGHTLY raped by her father and I suspect he is also doing the same to her 8 year old sister. He has fathered and made sure she aborted TWO children and no one will do a thing to stop this drunken perverted man. Add to that she does all the work in the house AND looks after TWO foster kids her parents get paid to care for!!! The police refuse to believe her because she has tried several times to suicide out (Well DUH, look at what she is forced to live with) they ignore her and turn a blind eye to blatant sexual abuse.

Kathy F.

2:09PM PST on Nov 28, 2009

This is just another symptom of the way women & children are devalued by society. This is not new, this subject has been brought up many times in my lifetime, & it is most distressing that attitudes from officials toward the victims haven't seem to have moved forward at all. And of course, because of this, women ARE hesitant to report the crime, convictions aren't nearly as high as they should be, & it is why women & children are often forced to flee & go underground to protect themselves. Everyone knows that a restraining order that is a pat answer to get protection is as useless as the paper it's written on, & it seems that criminals rights are much more important than the victims rights. There is NO excuse for the draconian way these crimes are handled. With today's technology crimes can be solved & criminals put away with little doubt of their guilt. And since that is the case, there is only one reason for these horrible stats. The attitude of the law enforcement agencies screams of ignorance & judgement about rape & the brutality of it. This also brings up the fact that there are women in jail doing hard time because they HAD to defend themselves & their children from violence when the authorities did not protect them. I don't know how officials can hold their heads up when that happens. Convicting a woman protecting herself is so damned easy-it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Again, it's the attitude that a man's life is more v

Mari M.

12:41PM PST on Nov 28, 2009

In today's Boston Globe, Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt has written the following Op-Ed regarding the degrading epidemic of violence against women and girls, worldwide. Please read it here:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/11/28/us_must_act_on_violence_against_women/

Now, as a rape survivor, myself, I know how difficult it is to get help after a violent sexual assault and how cruelly rape victims are often treated by police, family members and society at large. We develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, resulting from the rape and it's aftermath, at the same rate as combat veterans. Yet, we receive far less attention and treatment than vets do.

This is a gender issue. It is also a political issue. As Rep. Delahunt points out, it is, simultaneously, an economic issue.

Rape and ignorant attitudes towards rape victims are serious problems in every nation on Earth. The so-called "enlightened" west is no more advanced in preventing the rapes of women and children than the "uncivilized" countries of war-torn Africa.

This epidemic is literally killing the planet, one woman at a time. Families, communities, whole economies are undermined and kept in chaos due to the wholesale rapes of women and our kids.

Must I add that we do NOT rape each other? Didn't think so.
Please put the blame where it belongs for a change. Personally, I find it very refreshing to hear a man speak out against rape. Can men stop it from h