Enduring myths about rape victims lead to acquittals, says chief prosecutor

Alison Saunders says jurors arrive at court with preconceptions about women which affects how they consider evidence
Alison Saunders
Alison Saunders of the Crown Prosecution Service says women can become amost demonised by the media and that this affects preconceptions of female rape victims. Photograph: Felix Clay Felix Clay/Felix Clay

The demonisation of young women is contributing to the failure to secure more convictions of suspected rapists, one of the country's leading prosecutors warns on Monday.

Some victims are deterred from coming forward because they fear they will be vilified, says Alison Saunders, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service in London.

In an interview with the Guardian, Saunders said she believed jurors were coming to court with preconceptions about women that affected the way they considered evidence. These beliefs need to be challenged if more trials aren't to end in acquittals.

Saunders said prosecutors and detectives involved in rape cases were now trained to challenge myths and stereotypes, particularly around women who have been drinking, or those who say they have been sexually assaulted by a current or former partner.

"We have done lots of training ... but there has never been that debate on a wider social basis. You can see how some members of the jury can come along with preconceived ideas, they might still subscribe to the myths and stereotypes that we have all had a go at busting."

Saunders said she wanted to start a debate that might require "some government publicity or government guidance". She also expressed concern about the way women were portrayed in the media.

"If a girl goes out and gets drunk and falls over ... they are almost demonised in the media, and if they then become a victim, you can see how juries would bring their preconceptions to bear.

"The majority of rape cases are between people who know each other ... I think that is one of the things that jurors find particularly difficult."

Saunders said judges can give advice and directions during a trial, but often this comes too late to make jurors think twice.

"The majority of victims are under 18, a lot have drink or alcohol involved, some are repeat victims. If she has been a repeat victim, do you believe her, or is this something about her or about the defendant?

"Because we have been concentrating and looking at this, we have done a lot of work ... dispelling our myths and stereotypes. But is there something more we should be doing ... [so that] when people come onto the jury they are not being challenged for the first time, it's not something that they have only just thought about."

"There have been a lot of developments about what judges can say to jurors. Judges cannot do rape cases unless they are specialists and they have been through the myth-busting courses.

"But my view is that sometimes it is possibly too late. You may have someone who has already listened to the evidence and may have made up their mind. What we need is a wider debate that takes it out of courtroom environment so that people think about it before they get to be a juror."

She believes opening up the issue will help prosecutions and may even deter offenders who "might think they could get away with it."

Saunders believes "some women don't complain because they feel they might be vilified". They think making a formal complaint might be worse for them in the long run, she said.

"[We need] to encourage people to come forward so it is not something you will be vilified for, and jurors, when they come to cases, they come with a genuinely open mind without any preconceptions." Saunders is in charge of the biggest CPS division in England and Wales. Last year, it considered 870 suspected rapes, and sent half of them to trial.

Of those, just over 50% ended up with convictions. The "attrition" rate – those cases that ended in acquittal, has been dropping.In one recent case, Saunders said the CPS had prosecuted a man three years after the initial complaint was made, and they are going through a number of cold-case reviews, where new evidence has been found in previously unsolved inquiries.

Saunders led the prosecution team in the case against Gary Dobson and David Norris, the two men convicted of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. She said that although no new evidence had so far been provided by the police, she felt sure that others were involved in the killing.

"When we were looking at the case and making the decision about Dobson and Norris we didn't just look at them ... we know that other people were involved. If we get more evidence, then we will go against someone else. If there is enough for a realistic prospect of conviction."

The CPS is issuing all its prosecutors with tablet computers in a bid to drastically reduce the number of files and papers. By April this year, police in London will be submitting all cases electronically and advocates will use the handheld computers to present their cases.

"Prosecutors will have tablets when they are standing up in court and they will present everything from a tablet rather than the piles of files you see now," said Saunders.