Brief background

Rape is a serious and emotive crime. The adverse impacts on victims are considerable as are the costs to family and friends. There are also substantial financial costs involved in terms of investigation, trial and incarceration of offenders. Research demonstrates that this is a largely underreported crime (fewer than 10 % of rapes are estimated to be reported to the police) and of those that are only a tiny percentage (6%) result in guilty verdicts. Ethically, rape is a difficult subject to research and there are many methodological conundrums when collecting and interpreting data. Contemporary legislation in the form of the new Sexual Offences Act 2003 has, for the first time, defined the notion of consent in statute, and juries appear to find difficulty in adjudicating in cases where the victim and defendant know each other and where alcohol has been consumed. The impact of the new legislation has yet to be assessed.  Research looking at victim satisfaction with the investigative process suggests that police officers have a number of heuristic biases investigating rape and this may contribute to attrition of cases at this stage.