Rape reports and convictions (FOI)

Request

Could you provide the answer to the following questions for every year from 2010 to 2017?

• how many allegations of rapes were reported to the Police

• how many alleged victims pursued their cases in court

• out of those that went to court, how many resulted in conviction

• how many were dropped to charges of 'indecent assault' or any other lesser charges

• how many people reported incidents of sexual or indecent assault

• how many alleged victims of sexual or indecent assault pursued their reports in court

• how many of the sexual or indecent assault cases resulted in conviction

Response

Rape and Indecent Assault cases reported to the police:

The States of Jersey Police follow guidelines for recording crime set out by the UK Home Office. These can be found following the below link Home Office counting rules. There are specific rules for counting sexual offences. The legislation mentioned in the Counting Rules document is UK legislation and may not be applicable in Jersey although the basic counting principles are followed. This ensures recorded crime figures in Jersey are not disproportionate to those in the UK.

Counting rules for recorded crime on the GOV.UK website

There have been no cases where the offender was charged with Rape but found guilty of a lesser alternate offence. In many cases an allegation may consist of historic offences (Over one year old). The allegation may include offences of a varying degree over a period of time. In these cases, a range of sexual offences may be charged. Sometimes, only a proportion of these are proved in court.

The link below shows those cases that were dealt with at court or Parish Hall and the outcome. Whilst it will always be the decision of the victim whether or not to support a prosecution in court, it will be the standard of evidence available that will determine if the case proceeds to court.

Download Cases dealt with at Court or Parish Hall 20170524 (size 166kb)

Since 2014, the Home Office counting rules allow for cases that do not go to court but meet certain other criteria, to be recorded as such. This method of recording gives a more accurate description of the outcome of cases that did not go to court.

The table below indicates where the victim declined to support a prosecution or substantiate the initial complaint with a recorded statement.