16th October 2017

Crown Prosecution Service VAWG Report

This week, the Crown Prosecution Service published the 10th VAWG Report. The CPS states that the report “outlines the huge increases in convictions for rape (48) and other sexual offences (79%) that have been witnessed in the decade since the first VAWG report was published in 2007-08. It also shows large annual increases in prosecutions and convictions over the last year for rape (11.8% and 11.2%, respectively) and other sexual offences (12.5% and 14.7%). These offences, along with domestic abuse, now account for one fifth (19.3%) of the CPS's caseload - up from just 7.1% a decade ago.

More than a third of the 13,700 defendants who were convicted of sexual offences including rape in 2016/17 had abused children. For the first time the report also reveals the ages of rape victims. The data shows that more than half of victims (52%) were under 24 years old, 18% aged 14-17 years, and more than 9% under 13 years old. Domestic abuse prosecutions have risen by 47% and convictions by 61% over the last decade. However this year's report does show a decrease in domestic abuse prosecutions and convictions compared with 2015/16, following a two-year fall in referrals of domestic abuse from the police to the CPS. Cross-governmental work with the police is underway to address this fall. As more than 80% of VAWG prosecuted crimes are made up of domestic abuse offences this has contributed to an overall 4.5% fall in prosecutions (112,270, down from 117,568) and a 3.1% fall in convictions (84,565, down from 87,275) compared with 2015/16. Over the last decade, however, VAWG convictions have risen by more than 60%.”