Olivia Smith Rapes

PORTFOLIO PART 1:

Olivia Smith Anglia Ruskin University, UK. The practicalities of English and Welsh rape trials: Observations and avenues for improvement. Criminology & Criminal justice, First Published 2 Apr 2017. Check capitals in title of original document.

In this article, Dr Olivia Smith aimed to examine how courts deal with rape trials and treatment and care of survivors. She believed there was a “need for the research to be carried out because of an inadequate response to rape by the police and courts, plus the poor implementation of Special Measures for vulnerable survivors.” She believed one important reason was ‘the pervasive use of stereotypes used to justify rape and undermine survivors.” This research was carried out in 2012

One of the reasons for this could be the lack of care and importance given by the police to these cases. Tim Newburn’s Criminology 3rd edition supports this by explaining that in 1984 there were 68 rape crisis centres but by 2005 there were only 32, despite a massive increase in the number of rapes reported. Smith also finds dissatisfaction with the way “cases are investigated and followed up”. Victims felt they were treated in an unsympathetic way, which probably explains the very low conviction rates with only 5.7% of reported cases ending in conviction and only 15% of survivors choosing to report. Moreover the “pervasive use of stereotypes that justify rape and undermine survivors, together with evidence about the survivors’ sexual history” make the survivor feel blamed for what happened. Smith also discovered that survivors would be “left outside the courtroom with the defendant and sometimes their family”, a potentially traumatic

The research observed what actually happened in court because the “existing literature tended to focus on interview or survey methodologies”, whereas court observations enable “wider examination of the trial process”. A wide range of cases were included, featuring “multiple perpetrators or complainants, a range of mental health difficulties, domestic violence contexts and ‘stranger’ rapes.”

In 2012/13 there were 1,832 rape trials in England and Wales. Smith observed only 18 trials in one court, she analysed, therefore, fewer than 1% of rape trials. This was, she said, to allow analysis in sufficient depth. This very small sample, and all the cases being from a single court, make it difficult to use as a basis to implement change.

Both quantitative and qualitative analysis are included for example the number of times technology failed and cases where that happened. We are also alerted to the number of ? is this quantity or quality? that victims found the “witness room claustrophobic.” However there are no data tables giving an overview of quantitative analysis. t feel there is insufficient quantitative data to support the