Rape victims in England and Wales have echoed the message of Gisèle Pelicot in France that “shame belongs to perpetrators, not them”, in the largest ever survey of rape and sexual assault survivors, according to the government’s key adviser on the crime.
Three-quarters of respondents to the survey of rape and sexual assault survivors said their mental health was damaged “as a direct result of what police did, or failed to do, in their case” and only four in 10 said they would report again, according to researchers.
But a radical overhaul of the way the criminal justice system deals with rape since 2021 is showing the first “green shoots” of improving victims’ experience of the criminal justice system, with respondents after July last year 8% less likely to report damage to their mental health because of the police.
Only two in five respondents agreed that policing is doing a good job and while one in five said they have been pressured by officers to withdraw, with black and minority ethnic survivors having worse experiences than white respondents.
Operation Soteria, which focuses on perpetrators rather than victim behaviour and was fully rolled out in 2023, came after a rape review in June 2021 exposed the reasons behind a collapse in rape prosecutions – which in 2016/17 stood at 5,190 and fell 60% in four years to 2,102 in 2019/20, even as reports increased.
In the year ending December 2023, charges for sexual offences were up by 18% compared with the previous year, while adult rape charges increased by 38% in the same period.
“Some victims are getting better service now, but not all,” said Katrin Hohl, the lead researcher and the government’s independent adviser on rape. “There are green shoots but there is clearly a long way to go. This is the first clear indication that Operation Soteria is the right model to back.”
The survey, which heard from 5,000 rape survivors over 18 months, also found that since 2021 victims were less likely to be asked for counselling notes. They also reported finding police more empathetic, likely to tell them about their rights and refer them to support services.
But while more respondents had support after 2021, there was evidence of a potential shortage of support workers, with 46% of victims reporting after July 2023 saying they were on a waiting list, or did not have support.
The survey showed “good police responses are possible” but exposed that “some officers are still only covering the basics”, said Sarah Crew, the national police lead on rape and Operation Soteria. “Disadvantage, discrimination, and contextual incompetence are still being felt,” she said.
The survey also reveals that securing a conviction was less important to victims than stopping perpetrators and making them realise their actions were wrong. When given a list of seven “positive outcome” options, securing a conviction came last: 88% of respondents said that stopping the perpetrator from raping again was “extremely important”, compared with 56% who said a conviction was extremely important to them.
“Like Gisèle Pelicot in France, victims are saying that shame belongs to perpetrators, not them,” said Hohl.
Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “What makes all the difference to survivors is being treated with empathy, kindness and dignity and where this happens, it can have a really positive impact on their wellbeing and recovery.”
The victims’ commissioner, Helen Newlove, called for the Home Office to announce continued funding for Operation Soteria, which runs out in March 2025. “I am concerned that withdrawing funding, right when it is still taking root, risks jeopardising tangible progress,” said Lady Newlove.
A Home Office spokesperson said policing funding for 2025-26 was being allocated and would be announced in due course. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the CPS would receive £49m to support victims of crime, including rape victims from the budget.
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said the findings of the survey were “stark” and showed the police response “still isn’t good enough”. She added: “We are committed to using these insights to deliver lasting improvements in policing moving forwards, part of our wider mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.”
• This article was amended on 14 November 2024. Owing to an error in information provided to us, an earlier version of the text and headline said that only one in 10 survey respondents said they would report a crime of sexual violence to police again; the actual figure is four in 10.
