Proving Sexual Assault: Prosecuting the Offender or Persecuting the Victim? (From Gender, Crime and Justice, P 58-80, 1987, Pat Carlen, Anne Worral, eds. -- See NCJ-127255)

• NCJ Number: 127259
• Author(s): G Chambers; A Millar
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Open University Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Information from the 196 cases of serious sexual assault that were reported to the police in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland during a 15-month period in 1980 and 1981 formed the basis of an analysis of the prosecution of these cases.

Abstract

The analysis showed that police investigators decided that no crime had occurred in 22 percent of the cases and did not solve some cases. Forty-three percent of the prosecutions were resolved by a guilty plea prior to trial, although more than half of the guilty pleas were to lesser charges resulting from plea bargaining. Just under half the defendants who went to trial were convicted; the others were found not guilty or not proven, both resulting in full acquittals. Transcripts of the complainer's evidence and interviews of victims who attended court hearings showed extensive emphasis on the woman's prior sexual history and what she had and had not done to repel her assailant. Thus, victims often felt that they were on trial and that prosecutors were not supportive. However, recent legislative changes designed to clarify rules concerning evidence admissibility may not improve the handling of sexual assault trials in Scotland. Excerpts from trial transcripts and 11 notes