Crown Prosecution Service reveals 78,773 were convicted in England and Wales in the past year, but the rate of conviction has fallen

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Record numbers of people are being convicted of violent crimes against women in England and Wales, but the rate of conviction has still fallen, figures show.

Convictions increased to 78,773 in the past year, up 16.9% on the previous year, data released by the Crown Prosecution Service revealed on Thursday. But those figures also showed the conviction rate for rape fell to 56.9%.

About 107,100 cases concerning violence against women and girls were prosecuted over the 12 months, a rise of 18.3% on the previous year.

The figures also laid bare the young ages of many of those convicted of rape. The majority of defendants were aged 25-59 (59%) and 18-24 (21%). A total of 354 defendants (just under 8%) were aged 14-17 and 56 were aged 10-13.

There were increases in the number of successful prosecutions for sexual offences, child sex abuse, domestic violence cases and honour-based violence, while more people were charged with rape than ever before in the past year. The CPS said it was investigating more historic allegations following the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

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Campaigners welcomed the report and praised prosecutors, the police and victims for their work in securing more convictions than ever before.

But they said greater funding was required to help increase conviction rates and ensure women had access to support services.

Katie Russell, a national spokeswoman for Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: “It’s clear that some progress has been made towards improving responses to this broad range of devastating crimes.

“At the same time, the report highlights that we still have some distance to travel before all survivors of sexual violence and violence against women and girls receive the justice they want and deserve and there is no room for complacency.”

Sarah Green, the acting director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “The increase in prosecutions shows that more women are seeking justice, with big increases for example in the numbers of rape prosecutions and child sexual abuse prosecutions.

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“If as a society we really care about ensuring justice for survivors, we should do everything in our power to try to prevent abuse in the first place. This has to start in schools, with compulsory sex and relationships education to give young people the chance to talk about respectful relationships.

“The CPS report includes figures on the alarmingly young age of many defendants in rape prosecutions. This is a call to urgent action.”

The report showed the highest conviction volumes for domestic abuse (68,601), rape (2,581), sexual offences (7,591), honour-based violence (129) and child abuse (7,469), with more than 10,000 additional defendants convicted of domestic abuse.

There was a 15% rise in stalking and harassment prosecutions to more than 12,000. Of these, 1,103 prosecutions were commenced under the new stalking offences.

Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, said the report was “really good news for the victims of these dreadful crimes” and testament “to the hard work we (the CPS) have done recently to encourage victims to come forward, to work better with the police and ensure specially trained prosecutors bring the right cases to court”.

She said: “Where cases meet the code for crown prosecutors, we will not shy away from taking cases forward, even when they are difficult and complex.

“Of course, this additional volume of violence against women and girls brings challenges for prosecutors not only in terms of numbers, but the type of cases we are seeing – prosecutors across England and Wales are telling me that we are seeing more non-recent child sexual abuse cases and more of the particularly complex rape cases coming forward.

“While there has been a slight drop in the rape conviction rate, we are bringing the right, although often the more difficult, cases to court as they are left to the jury to decide.

“Anyone who is a victim of these crimes should feel encouraged by this news and confident that they will be believed when reporting these crimes.”

Polly Neate, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said: “The report demonstrates that significant progress has been made in taking more cases of domestic violence through the criminal justice system. This is positive.

“This progress must continue until we have a system where women who experience domestic violence have exactly the same level of confidence as victims of other crimes, that they are heard and believed, the system works for them and protects their human right to live free from violence.”