Rape on Trial

VNS documents what happens when the criminal justice system treats victims as suspects. Nowhere is that inversion more systematically embedded than in the prosecution of rape. The complainant who reports a rape enters a process in which their credibility, their history, their character, and their behaviour are scrutinised in ways that no other crime victim faces.

Conviction rate, 1994

8.6%

Conviction rate, 2024

2.1%

CPS charge rate for recorded rape, 2024 (was 7.5% in 2016-17)

3.1%

Increase in reports over the same period

~2x

The legislative reforms that were supposed to change this trajectory, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1976, the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, have not produced the outcomes their promoters predicted. Each was substantial. Each was campaigned for by survivors and their supporters. None has reversed the trend.

Nils Christie's 1986 concept of the ideal victim, weak, blameless, unconnected to the offender, entirely passive, still shapes how juries and investigators assess credibility. Brenik et al (2025) found the need for police intervention was rated highest in cases involving a male offender and a female victim, lowest where the genders were reversed or where the victim did not present as visibly distressed. The further a complainant deviates from the template, the harder the system finds it to extend its protections.

Cross-examination in rape trials is permitted to range over the complainant's sexual history, mental health, prior relationships, social media, communications, and personal life in ways that no other category of witness experiences. Section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 restricts cross-examination on sexual behaviour, but research published by Dame Vera Baird and the Centre for Women's Justice repeatedly documents that the restrictions are inconsistently applied. The phrase the second rape is used in the academic literature precisely because the process is experienced by many complainants as a continuation of the harm.

All police forces in England and Wales have formally adopted Operation Soteria, the suspect-focused investigative model developed by Professor Betsy Stanko. HMICFRS reported in September 2025 that adoption is uneven: in most forces inspected, about half of rape investigation team members were trainees. Resource gaps in digital forensics, analysis, victim support and investigation teams produced high workloads and delays. In most cases it takes nearly a year before a charging decision is made, and several years before cases reach trial.

• Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) are now embedded in many forces and CPS units
• Pre-recorded cross-examination (s.28) has been rolled out nationally for vulnerable witnesses
• Specialist rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) units exist in every CPS area
• Restrictions on victim bad-character evidence are being strengthened in the Courts and Tribunals Bill

• Conviction rate from initial report still in low single digits
• Disclosure of complainants' personal data still routinely sought and granted
• Court delays now measured in years for the most serious cases
• Specialist investigators still scarce; trainees still over-represented in RASSO teams