Labour says ministers have unforgivable lack of urgency over rape sufferer report
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abour has accused the Government of displaying an “unforgivable lack of urgency” in addressing the wants of rape victims and implementing essential suggestions made by the Criminal Justice Joint Inspectorate (CJJI).
Analysis by the occasion exhibits that a number of “immediate” suggestions from the CJJI reviews have been left unfulfilled.
The CJJI carried out two complete reviews, one in July 2021 and the opposite in February 2022, specializing in the remedy of rape victims by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The reviews discovered that the felony justice system was failing to supply a passable degree of service to victims of rape, highlighting critical deficiencies that demanded instant motion.
According to the Labour Party, 18 months on from supply of these reviews, there was little or no progress on most of the key suggestions, together with six the place instant motion had been demanded.
These had been the collaborative use of dangerous character purposes in rape circumstances, offering victims with the chance to make a private assertion, correct recording of data on victims’ protected traits, establishing specialist rape offence courts, session on making a commissioner for rape and sexual offences, and gathering and publishing information on the usage of particular measures in rape circumstances no later than by September 2022.
Shadow lawyer common Emily Thornberry mentioned: “At a time when we have a record backlog for rape cases going through our court system, ministers should be doing everything possible to support the victims of those attacks, and help them with the trauma they are facing.
“Instead, their response to the recommendations from the Joint Inspectorate shows an inexplicable lack of focus and an unforgivable lack of urgency.
“The Joint Inspectorate said ‘change is needed now’, but a year and half later, ministers have yet to lift a finger on most of their recommendations.
“The fact is that only a change of Government will deliver the action we need.
“Labour will take immediate steps to put specialist rape courtrooms in every Crown Court in England and Wales, and work tirelessly towards our mission to halve violence against women and girls.”
Home Office minister Sarah Dines mentioned: “Labour have voted against every tougher sentence we have brought in and Keir Starmer has an appalling record of failing rape victims.
“As director of prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service, Starmer oversaw a huge drop in the number of sexual offences which were prosecuted and Thornberry criticised his ‘backsliding’.
“Conservative Governments have increased convictions, increased sentences, reformed our justice system and quadrupled funding to better support victims – making sure that the full force of the law is brought to bear to protect women and girls”.
Ms Dines was referencing a important letter the Labour MP despatched in 2012 to then director of public prosecutions Sir Keir and then-attorney common Dominic Grieve amid adjustments to steerage on specialist barristers and rape prosecutions.
In that letter, she condemned the Government’s choice to “slash the Crown Prosecution Service’s budget by 25% over the course of the Parliament”, which she mentioned had resulted in victims not getting the mandatory authorized assist.