\n<\/p>\n
An overhaul of the way police investigate rape is being put at risk by a lack of awareness in courtrooms in England and Wales, the government\u2019s independent adviser on rape has warned.<\/p>\n
Prof Katrin Hohl said legal experts were concerned progress would stall or reverse if the conviction rate for rape dropped significantly because a new approach for investigating the cases, known as Operation Soteria, was hitting outdated practices in the courts.<\/p>\n
A vote on the courts and tribunals bill on Tuesday could result in as many as 65 Labour MPs failing to support measures that will remove the right to trial by jury in some cases. Before the vote, the justice secretary, David Lammy, launched a review of how courts deal with rape and sexual assault cases, and promised that rape victims would have access to independent legal advice from later this year.<\/p>\n
Hohl said that the future of the Soteria approach, which has significantly increased the number of rape charges made by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), could be jeopardised if cases failed in court. The process focuses on the suspect\u2019s behaviour rather than looking for intrusive background information about the victim. The conviction rate for adult rate has dropped slightly, which experts argue is as a result of the CPS charging more complex cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe obvious, ultimate risk is if it comes to a point where it is felt that Soteria investigations have lower chances of convictions, that police and CPS could go back to as it was before,\u201d said Hohl. \u201cI think if we can\u2019t change the courts, I would worry about the sustainability of the Soteria approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Operation Soteria launched in 2021 after the last government\u2019s rape review following a collapse in the number of rape cases making it to trial.<\/p>\n
Under the changes, police officers are told to build cases built on suspects\u2019 behaviour rather than relying on an examination of the credibility of witnesses, and limit the amount of intrusive material they ask for, including counselling notes and medical records.<\/p>\n
But police were facing barriers in courtrooms, said Hohl. \u201cAnecdotally, we know that when officers go into the courtroom, they find that judges and barristers have never heard of Soteria,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The number of rape victims pulling out of prosecutions before trial more than doubled between 2019 and 2024. The government has made changes to the way they are treated in an attempt to stem the exodus.<\/p>\n
Under new measures promised in the Labour manifesto, rape victims will also get access to independent legal advice from later this year, when the new national independent legal adviser (ILA) service launches with initial funding of \u00a36m over two years, said the Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOperation Soteria has already changed how rape cases are investigated by putting the focus where it belongs \u2013 on the suspect,\u201d said Lammy. \u201cBy introducing independent legal advisers and expanding the principles of Soteria into the courtroom, we are making sure victims have both the protection and support they deserve throughout the justice process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ministers have introduced new laws to ban \u201cbad character\u201d evidence related to a victim\u2019s past sexual history or abuse, and since January new Home Office rules have severely restricted police from accessing rape and sexual assault victims\u2019 counselling notes, ending invasive \u201cfishing expeditions\u201d into their past.<\/p>\n
Nogah Ofer, of the Centre of Women\u2019s Justice, said the organisation had witnessed several trials that had been hampered by a lack of understanding of the new approach.<\/p>\n
At a recent trial witnessed by the CWJ, a police officer was cross-examined by a defence barrister as to why they had not requested personal records about the victim. The barrister then told the jury that the case had not been adequately investigated and their client had not had a fair trial, she said. \u201cPolice are following the law and new guidance, but because that has not filtered through to the courts we fear that it is being used to undermine the prosecution case,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is happening already, but we worry it will get worse as more Soteria cases get to trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hohl said that a Soteria pilot in London, which is expected to report in the autumn, will examine the first tranche of cases to uncover if its founding principles were followed at court. Academics will review completed cases and observe live cases while barristers, police and CPS prosecutors will be interviewed and trained to compellingly present Soteria cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think bringing the principles of Soteria into the courtroom is going to be straightforward but that\u2019s why this pilot is so important,\u201d said Hohl. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think the police would ever fully go back [to the previous way of operating], because I think once you\u2019ve seen the impact of Soteria, you can\u2019t unlearn the lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An overhaul of the way police investigate rape is being put at risk by a lack of awareness in courtrooms in England and Wales, the government\u2019s independent adviser on rape has warned. Prof Katrin Hohl said legal experts were concerned progress would stall or reverse if the conviction rate for rape dropped significantly because a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[18174,12277,4776,105,10874,7645,1015,2128,358,745,5841],"class_list":{"0":"post-46293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-awareness","9":"tag-courtroom","10":"tag-crown","11":"tag-expert","12":"tag-inquiries","13":"tag-lack","14":"tag-overhaul","15":"tag-prosecution","16":"tag-rape","17":"tag-service","18":"tag-threatened"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}