§ Lord Campbell-Savoursasked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment has been made of the amount of police time that is wasted arising out of false allegations of rape. [HL1453]
§ Lord FilkinRape is an extremely serious offence, and it is right that the police should be prepared to investigate any complaint made to them.
150WAThe Home Office has conducted limited research into the reasons that rape allegations were withdrawn (Home Office Research Study 196), but this study did not attempt to quantify the impact of cases where it was felt that the allegations were false.
There is a clear difficulty in obtaining information about false allegations because of the need to make a subjective judgment about whether or not complaints that are withdrawn or found to be ungrounded are also false. There may be clear evidence in certain instances that false allegations were made, but this is likely to apply in a minority of cases.
There is a range of offences to deal with those who might seek to pursue false allegations, including the offences of perverting the course of justice, wasting police time and perjury.
§ Lord Campbell-Savoursasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration they have given to the work of Carol Sarler on the issue of raising rape conviction rates by introducing a new charge of date rape. [HL1488]
§ Lord FilkinThe Sexual Offences Bill follows a major review of the criminal law on sexual offences, which looked at a wide range of the very numerous authorities on sex offences and sex offenders, as listed in Annex K of volume 2 ofSetting the Boundaries. The review process involved consideration of a significant number of reports and research studies and included a comparison with the laws of a number of other countries, including Australia and New Zealand. Carol Sarler's work was not considered as part of the review process, but we are satisfied that the review was comprehensive and thorough and the question of whether there should be a separate offence of date rape is one that was considered in detail and properly rejected by the review.
We believe that the offence of rape cannot be divided into more or less serious offences. It can be just as traumatic to be raped by someone you know, especially in view of the breach of trust that is involved, as to be raped by a stranger who sexually assaults the first man or woman who passes by. The crime of rape is so serious that it needs to be considered in its totality rather than being constrained by any relationship between the parties. The issue of severity of the offence should be left to the judges on sentencing, rather than attempting to deal with it by creating a separate offence.
This view is supported by the Sentencing Advisory Panel in its recently published guidelines on sentencing in cases of rape.
§ Lord Campbell-Savoursasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many times the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has paid compensation in rape cases in each of the past three years; and [HL1489]
151WAHow many times recipients of compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority have been prosecuted for false claims following the making of rape allegations which subsequently turn out to be false. [HL1490]
§ Lord FilkinThe Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority has provided the following information about compensation awards made for non-consensual vaginal or anal intercourse in the last three financial years:
Financial Year Number of Awards 1999–2000 1,437 2000–01 1,390 2001–02 1,336 The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority will refer to the police any case where it suspects that a false claim has been made and co-operate in the police investigation of any such allegation. I understand that the authority has identified two cases in recent years where following an application for compensation for rape there was a prosecution on the grounds that the claim was false.