Fewer rape cases make it to court, says Yvette Cooper

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/27/fewer-rape-cases-court-yvette-cooper

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Victims of rape, domestic violence and child sex abuse are suffering as a result of a "hollowed out" police service, Yvette Cooper has said, pointing at a fall in the number of cases referred for prosecution even though the number of recorded cases has increased.

The shadow home secretary accused Theresa May of turning her back on a problem created by the government, risking a return to the days when such crimes were hidden and victims treated poorly.

Cooper spoke out after the Labour party collated a series of parliamentary answers from the solicitor general, Oliver Heald.

These had been issued in the autumn, and show an increase in number of recorded cases of rape, domestic violence and child sex abuse.

But the figures then show a fall since 2010 (when the government took office) of the number of cases passed by police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecution.

For instance,

The figures show that:

• 8,130 rape cases were referred to the CPS in England and Wales in 2010-11, compared with 5,404 in 2012-13.

During the same period, the number of recorded rape cases increased from 15,892 to 16,327. Labour first released these figures in October.

• 101,242 cases of domestic violence were referred to the CPS in 2010-11, compared with 88,110 in 2012-13. The number of recorded cases increased between 2010-11 and 2011-12 from 739,099 to 796,935 – there are no figures for 2012-13. Labour first noted these figures in September.

• 13,018 child sex offence cases were referred to the CPS in 2010-11 compared with 9,381 in 2012-13. During the same period the number of recorded cases increased from 17,730 to 18,915. Labour first noted these figures in November.

Cooper said: "The police service is being hollowed out by this Tory-led government and victims of rape, domestic violence and child sex abuse are suffering as a result."

"There is a very serious drop in action against the most serious criminals and abusers since the government's police cuts and fragmented reforms started and specialist police units have been cut back. Victims of crime and abuse are being let down as a result.

"This has all happened in the last two years, yet the home secretary is turning her back on the problem she has created. Something is going badly wrong. That's why I'm urging chief constables directly to take action.

She said that new national standards were needed to deal with these sorts of cases and direct action by all chief constables was necessary to address the problem.

"I shall be contacting all of them and urging them to act even without the support of the home secretary. I want to work with police leaders to see what action can be taken to turn this round as fast as possible."

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