Require jurors in rape trials to complete mandatory training on rape myths

Research shows that many jurors accept widely held false beliefs about rape, rapists and victims.

These 'rape myths' can influence decision making in trials. To give victims a fair chance at obtaining justice we want jurors to complete mandatory training on rape myths prior to sitting on rape trials.

Currently, less than 1% of reported rapes leads to a conviction. And the police and CPS rarely put forward cases they think won't convince a jury; while police recorded 67,125 rapes in 2021 only 1,557 of these were sent to trial.

As studies show that jurors who accept rape myths are more likely to issue not guilty verdicts, dispelling rape myths in juries is key to ensuring fair trials and improving low conviction rates.

This government is committed to ensuring that all victims of sexual offences have the chance to receive the justice they deserve. This is why the Government published its End-to-end Rape Review and Rape Review Action Plan in June 2021, committing to transform the way the entire criminal justice system responds to adult rape offences.

The End-to-end Rape Review set stretching initial targets to return the volumes of adult rape cases reaching court to 2016 levels – in practice more than doubling the number of cases reaching court compared to 2019, when the Review was first commissioned. Setting these ambitions against 2016 levels made them hugely stretching; 2015 and 2016 marked the years where we saw the most adult rape cases being prosecuted and convicted since 2010.

We have already exceeded each of these initial targets. We have more than doubled the number of people being prosecuted for an adult rape offence since 2019, when we first commissioned the Rape Review, up by 149% (from 1,410 to 2,165). In addition, the number of people convicted for adult rape cases has been steadily increasing. Since 2019, adult rape convictions are up 19%. It is also important to note that this petition’s claim that only 1% of reported rapes lead to conviction is incorrect.

Within this Action Plan, the Government set out its commitment to ensure that only evidence about the victim that is pertinent to the case is used at court so that a victim’s credibility is not undermined by pre-conceptions or rape myths.

Within rape trials, judges are currently permitted, following guidance issued by the Judicial College, to give directions to jurors to counter any potential misconceptions. They are empowered to give both general warnings about false assumptions and stereotyping in sexual offence cases, and more specific directions addressing particular stereotypes or false assumptions.