Policing Sexual Assault

Jeanne Gregory, Sue Lees

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134713127
• Subtopic: Criminal Procedure
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Policing Sexual Assault provides a detailed account of current police practice in the UK in response to sexual assault. The authors use case studies and interviews to find out why when the number of rape cases has almost trebled since 1985, the proportion of cases resulting in a conviction has dropped from 24% to 8.6%. Chapters cover:

• an overview of existing research
• police culture
• police recording practices
• the role of the Crime Prosecution Service
• male rape
• analysis of the judicial process
• interviews with complainants and first-hand accounts of their experiences
• proposals for reform.

The authors place their findings within the context of theoretical debates about domestic and sexual violence and examine the gap between official condemnations of male violence, as enshrined in law, and the realities of the victims' (male and female) experiences - whereby the violence is too often condoned.

1 Introduction

During the 1980s and 1990s there has been a sea change in the recognition of male violence against women and children, not only in Britain, but in many other parts of the world. In the 1970s women in North America, Australia and Britain set up crisis centres and refuges where women could escape from violence by their partners, husbands or fathers. Feminists began a long-running campaign to give women more protection from the police, the courts and the law. By the 1990s, important changes in police practices and a changed climate of opinion had encouraged an increasing number of women to report violence to the police. Policies on sexual harassment were developed by employers in both the public and private sectors and the last decade has seen a developing awareness on this issue and a proliferation of ‘good practice’ guidelines. This book charts some of these developments in relation to sexual assault on women (and some men), but reveals that we are still a long way from achieving what the Labour Party consultation document (1995) optimistically referred to as the elimination of domestic and sexual violence. Police practice is a crucial barometer of both the advances and limits of progress in this field.

The issue of violence against women is now on the agenda at an international level, both in the United Nations and the Council of Europe. In July 1997 UNICEF included in its annual Progress of Nations report a specific section on violence against women where progress is defined according to the degree of protection women have against discrimination and violence. In 1986 the European Parliament endorsed a wide-ranging report submitted by its Women’s Committee on all aspects of violence against women (European Parliament 1986). The report included a number of recommendations concerning police practices: first, that police officers should be trained to deal with victims in a sympathetic, constructive and reassuring manner; second, that the police should inform the victim of the possibilities of obtaining assistance, practical and legal advice, compensation from the offender and from the state; third, that the victim should be able to obtain information on the outcome of the police investigation (Joutsen 1987).

In 1994 the General Assembly of the Organization of American States adopted an Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women and the Inter-American Development Bank has a project on the cost of violence against women. On a global level, the World Bank includes in its annual assessment of Gross National Product working time lost due to violence against women. The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was adopted in 1993 and the Declaration and Platform for Action at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 included ‘violence’ as one of twelve ‘critical areas of concern’ impeding women’s advancement. As Rosalind Coward pointed out (Guardian, 24 July 1997), the feminist rhetoric being used is staggeringly bold. There is a new category of ‘gender crime’ to refer to such practices as bride burning,¹ domestic beatings and genital mutilation, which have previously been seen as isolated phenomena rather than acknowledged as the results of patriarchal dominance.

Child abuse has become an issue of public concern and a key media issue (see Skidmore 1995). UNICEF calculates that trafficking in children is the third most lucrative illegal trade in the world, after drugs and weapons, and is a multi-billion dollar business. It is estimated that 5,000 children work in the sex trade in Britain and are the victims of family abuse, career paedophiles, prostitution, sex tourism and pornography. It is also estimated that there are 30,000 paedophiles organized in groups throughout Europe linked through the Internet and on the mailing lists of pornographic magazines. In Belgium, the arrest of a paedophile gang, who had abducted teenage girls and allowed two 8 year olds to starve to death in an underground prison, led to suspicion of police involvement in the atrocities (see Bates 1996).

This book investigates the impact of a recent concerted effort in Britain to change the way in which women (and more recently, men) reporting sexual attacks are dealt with by the front line agents for the criminal justice system, the police. It is one of the first studies of the reporting of sexual assault since the creation of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales in 1986. The CPS assumed the main responsibility for the prosecution of criminal cases, a task formerly undertaken by the police. (In Scotland there has always been an independent prosecutor, the Procurator Fiscal.) The change coincides with a steady fall in the conviction rate for rape and attempted rape in England and Wales from 24 per cent of reported cases in 1985 to 10 per cent in 1996 (Home Office Statistics). The arrest rate for cases of domestic violence remains at 14 per cent with even fewer cases proceeding to prosecution (Labour Party 1995). Unfortunately research into the prosecution process and into court procedures and sentencing practices in cases involving male violence is sparse.

There is, however, a growing body of research on the issue of police responses to domestic violence and sexual assault (see Faragher 1985, Edwards 1989, Bourlet 1990, Mullender 1996, Temkin 1997a). It is clear that the police have a crucial role to play in any attempt to implement a strategy designed to close the gap between the official condemnation of male violence as enshrined in the law and the realities of male violence as condoned in practice. Yet at the same time the police reflect the status quo; predominantly white, male and conservative in outlook; they are themselves part of a macho culture which is profoundly anti-feminist. Any attempts to introduce radical changes in the way in which cases of male violence are handled by the police must therefore confront two major obstacles: the first is the ‘enemy within’, i.e. resistance from police culture; the second is the ‘enemy without’, which is the refusal of the other major players in the criminal justice system, from the Crown Prosecution Service to the Court of Appeal, to accept that a fundamentally new approach to the problem of male violence is needed.

Police forces under attack

Police forces in England and Wales have found themselves under severe attack in recent years from a number of different quarters. They stand accused of racism in their dealings with black and minority ethnic communities and of sexism in their dealings with women, particularly those reporting crimes involving male violence. Additionally, they have been subjected to a range of criticisms which, when considered together, appear to be making contradictory demands on them. On the one hand, falling rates of detection and conviction across a range of serious crimes give rise to the belief that crime is spiralling out of police control; on the other hand, there is incontrovertible evidence that the police are prepared to take short cuts in order to secure a conviction, particularly where public outrage demands a quick result. The long-running investigation into the techniques used by the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad to obtain confessions has seriously shaken public confidence in the integrity of the police service. The most spectacular miscarriages of justice, such as the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six, the Maguire Seven, the Broadwater Farm Three and the Bridgewater Three sent shock waves reverberating throughout the criminal justice system (Rose 1996a).

In relation to rape and sexual assault, the police stand accused of employing harsh methods of interrogation on women reporting such attacks, on the assumption that they might be making false allegations. In 1982, the Thames Valley Police Force was pleased to allow such an interrogation to be shown on BBC television as part of a documentary series on police work, confident that their professionalism would be applauded. They were completely taken aback by the public outcry that followed, with the Guardian describing the interview as a display of ‘unmitigated toughness’ and ‘low-key brutality’ (quoted in Scott and Dickens 1989). This single incident provided the impetus to reform the procedures by which violence against women is policed, at a time of rapidly changing attitudes towards the treatment of women. The rediscovery of child sexual abuse in Cleveland and the subsequent furore resulted in a re-examination of children’s experiences of the criminal justice system.

However, as Radford and Stanko point out (1996) the changes are likely to have more to do with the influences of North American police practices in managing inner-city riots than with a desire to combat violence against women and children. They argue that in shifting the focus to crime against women, the police were adopting the mantle of protectors of women and children and attempting to ‘renegotiate some consensus in the inner city’ (ibid. 70, see also Sim et al. 1987). Radford and Stanko review attempts by North American feminists to take class action law suits against entire police forces so that failure to take action can cost the police dearly (Ferraro 1989).

In later chapters we present the findings of our own research, designed to contribute to this process of analysis and policy formation. Here we give an account of some of the earlier studies which turned the spotlight on police policies and practices in relation to crimes of male violence.

Improving service delivery

The Metropolitan Police took the criticisms of the investigation techniques, as demonstrated by the Thames Valley Police, very much to heart and put in train a series of measures designed to improve service delivery to women reporting rape and sexual assault. A 1983 Home Office circular (25/83) issued to chief constables was designed to ensure that women reporting sexual attacks would be treated with tact and sympathy and in 1984 the Women’s National Commission (WNC) established a working group on violence against women in order to monitor these developments and to make further recommendations for change. Their report Violence Against Women (WNC 1985) showed that police forces across England and Wales were beginning to respond to the new policy guidelines but that much remained to be done, particularly with regard to police training. Another major area of concern was the shortage of women police officers to conduct interviews with complainants and of women doctors to undertake medical examinations, despite the expressed preference of many complainants for their cases to be dealt with by women professionals.

In relation to domestic violence, the report revealed that police officers were frequently reluctant to intervene in domestic disputes or did so in a judgmental way, often siding with the man. The need for training was again emphasized, together with a recommendation that the law be changed to ensure that rape within marriage was regarded as a crime in all circumstances. The report recommended that the Home Secretary issue a further circular, focusing particularly on the question of training. With the publication of the report came a commitment by the Metropolitan Police to make further improvements in relation to sexual assault cases, including training for detective inspectors to give them some understanding of rape trauma syndrome (see chapter 6) and the establishment of rape examination suites where complainants could be medically examined in comfortable surroundings (Metropolitan Police press release, February 1985, reprinted in WNC 1985). These initiatives were reinforced by Home Office circular 698/6 which called for new police training inputs on rape and sexual assault, the appointment of more women officers and better facilities for medical examinations.

In collecting evidence for their report, the WNC focused exclusively on experiences and policy developments in England and Wales and yet some of the pioneering research on the issue of rape and sexual assault has occurred under the auspices of the Scottish Office. The path-breaking study by Chambers and Millar, Investigating Sexual Assault, was published in 1983. Based on interviews with 70 women reporting rape or sexual assault, the study found that the majority of complainants were critical of ‘the unsympathetic and tactless manner’ with which the police conducted their interviews (ibid. 94). The researchers pointed out that the skills ‘appropriate for interrogating offenders are not appropriate for interviewing sexual assault complainers or other witnesses’ (ibid. 131). The sceptical approach adopted by the police meant that complainants were often discouraged from telling their full story and would even elaborate or distort what actually happened in a desperate effort to be believed. This merely reinforced police scepticism and consolidated their view that women make false allegations. In emphasizing the need for police training in interviewing techniques, Chambers and Millar insist that the goals of apprehending the offender and of dealing sympathetically with complainants are not in conflict. On the contrary, a strategy of putting the complainant’s well-being first and foremost would actually benefit the progress of the case and increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.

Reporting sexual assault

A number of studies have indicated that the proportion of rapes reported is very low. A student union survey at Cambridge University in 1994 found that one in five of the 1,500 students questioned reported that they had been victims of rape or attempted rape and one in nine that they had been raped; only one in fifty had told the police (BBC 2 Public Eye 1992). Another student union survey of 2,000 women at Oxford Brookes University revealed that 90 per cent of women who had never been sexually assaulted thought that they would report it to the police, yet in fact only 6 per cent of those who had been attacked had in fact reported it. When women were asked why they did not report, they said they feared an unsympathetic response from the police and had little faith in the judicial system (Faizey 1994).

Liz Kelly, who undertook a detailed study of women’s experiences of sexual violence, pointed out that for women to identify themselves as victims or survivors of sexual violence, they must first define what has happened to them as lying outside the normal, as abusive. In order to consider reporting it to the police, they would need themselves to perceive the behaviour as a crime. The sixty women who participated in her research were volunteers, most of whom came forward as a result of a series of talks on sexual violence she gave to a range of different women’s groups. She asked them about their experiences of various forms of sexual violence, including threats of violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, obscene telephone calls, flashing, domestic violence, rape and incest. The incidence ranged from 100 per cent in the case of threats of violence to 22 per cent in the case of incest. Overall, less than 1 per cent of the events documented during the research were reported to the police and only five men were charged with offences. Low levels of reporting and low levels of police action ranged across the entire spectrum of offences. For example, 76 incidents of flashing were recalled by 30 of the women; 4 of these incidents were reported and no man was charged with an offence. Twenty-eight of the women had been raped, 6 within marriage, and only 8 of these cases had been reported to the police. Half of these were dropped (including two marital rapes), two women withdrew their complaints after hours of interrogation and two cases went to court; neither woman was informed of the outcome (Kelly 1988, chapter 4).

These findings confirm that even when women did perceive male violence as a crime, they placed little reliance on the police to offer them effective protection. Similarly, in the Violence Against Women—Women Speak Out survey conducted in Wandsworth between September 1983 and August 1984, fewer than one-quarter of the incidents of male violence experienced by the 314 women who participated were reported to the police. The reasons for not reporting given most often were that the women believed the police were not interested in ‘routine’ sexual and racial harassment and that they could not or would not take action; or they expected the police to be unpleasant or unsympathetic (Radford 1987). The women in Kelly’s survey had expressed very similar sentiments (Kelly 1988). There is some evidence that black women may be more likely to report domestic violence to the police. This could reflect a higher rate of victimization or could be due to other reasons (see Chapter 4).

Recording sexual assault

The reluctance of many women to report sexual attacks to the police is compounded by the falling away of the majority of the cases that are reported at various stages in the criminal justice process, resulting in very low conviction rates.

It is impossible to know with any degree of certainty how many sexual attacks take place in Britain each year. Estimates vary according to the methodology employed: on the one hand, the British Crime Surveys, involving interviews with people in their own homes, uncover almost no reports of rape or sexual assault; on the other hand, a women’s safety questionnaire, distributed to women in London at various public venues during the summer of 1982, found that of the women who responded, two in every five had experienced rape, attempted rape or another form of sexual assault at least once (Hall 1985). It could be argued that the methodology used, in sharp contrast to that used by the British Crime surveys, could lead to an overestimation of the incidence of rape, insofar as women who have been attacked may be more likely to respond (although many more may feel too traumatized to take part), but the findings in relation to the proportion of the women who subsequently reported the attack to the police are incontrovertible. Excluding the women who had been raped by their husbands (as this was in most cases not considered a crime in 1982), only 8 per cent of the women reporting rape to the researchers had reported it to the police; for sexual assaults, the figure was 18 per cent. When the women who had not reported to the police were asked to give reasons for this, 72 per cent replied that they believed the police would be unhelpful or unsympathetic; when women reporting rape were considered separately, this figure rose to 79 per cent (Hall 1985).

According to Home Office statistics, the number of cases of rape and sexual assault reported to the police in England and Wales has trebled during the last ten years. This may be due to an actual increase in the number of these crimes or to a greater willingness on the part of those who have been attacked to come forward, in the expectation that their complaint will be handled more sympathetically in the wake of the new policies and procedures. It may also be due in part to the new procedures themselves, particularly the tightening of the ‘no criming’ rules. This refers to the police practice of not recording some of the crimes reported to them, so that they never appear in the official statistics at all. According to earlier studies, levels of ‘no criming’ were particularly high in relation to reports of rape and sexual assault and astronomically high in cases of domestic violence.

In a study involving six English counties, Richard Wright found that 24 per cent of reports of rape and attempted rape were ‘no crimed’ (Wright 1984) and in the Scottish Office study, the ‘no crime’ figure was 22 per cent (Chambers and Millar 1983). The Metropolitan Police review of procedures sought to ensure that from 1985 allegations of rape and sexual assault would be ‘no crimed’ only when they were shown to be false or malicious. A Home Office study of two London Boroughs (Lambeth and Islington) was able to measure the impact of this policy change by examining the attrition between reporting and recording in 1984 and in 1986 (Smith 1989a). The levels of ‘no criming’ revealed in this study were extremely high, but there was a marked decline during the two year peri...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Police culture and its contradictions
• 3 Understanding attrition
• 4 The decriminalization of rape?
• 5 Male rape: the crime that can now speak its name
• 6 Complainants’ views of the police
• 7 Complainants’ views: aftermath of sexual assault
• 8 Conclusion
• Appendix
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index