Quote Originally Posted by ProjectEuropa
No means no! ... The young woman said she was happy to do everything but said 'no' to penetration. The young man said the young woman said 'no' every step along the way to full penetration and when he accepted 'no as no' she made it obvious she didn't mean 'no'. The young woman said that this was the case, she had said 'no' every step of the way and she said 'no' to full penetration but she was too scared to be too forceful in saying 'no' to full penetration. The young man said her behaviour showed no change from her saying 'no' to heavy petting and then encouraging him when he accepted 'no as no' to her saying no to pentration.
The case was fought around 'consent'. The young man was found innocent. The judge said consent has to be accompanied by moral honesty and integrity in order for it not to be a vacuous defence (I'm paraphrasing). The case led to a lot of discussion as to what is rape and what is a bad sexual experience. Women seemed to be divided on this case, some saying the young woman didn't experience rape but experienced a bad sexual experience and some saying 'no means no' and therefore she was raped.
Is rape rape or is rape really several crimes?
I still feel some what bewildered and sick at heart, that what I thought was an effort to lighten the tone of a discussion, could be so misconstrued from what I thought I was communicating; but in that I was naïve. I should have known better, and it is partly anger at my own stupidity, that has prevented me from putting all this behind me yet.

After all one of my favourite quotes is
“The only measure of the meaning of a communication is the reponse.”
In other words what ever one thought one had transmitted, the only measure of what has in fact been communicated is the response.

Now it so happens that this is central, to understanding what happened in the case that Project europa has just described.
It was however his reference to the low conviction rate in the UK that prompted me to make this post.

A report has just been published in th UK which concludes that, only 5.6% of reported rape cases end in the rapist being convicted in court. This represents a record low, and staggering when one reflects in 1977 the rate of conviction was 32%.

This report compiled by researchers at the London Metro politan University child and women abuse unit, concludes that part of the reason is that both the police and prosecuters overestimate the scale of false allegations made by victims; and that this “ culture of scepticism”, in turn leads to poor communication and loss of trust between those who complain and the police.
The report says that the most recent data from the British Crime Survey suggests that as many as one in twenty of adult women have suffered at least one incident of rape since they were 16 and there may be as many as 47,000 such attacks every year. Women are most likely to be raped by men they know and 50% involve repeated assaults by the same man: It is most likely to take place at home, with only 13% happening in a public place.
The Home Office research shows that of 11,766 allegations of rape made in 2002, only 655 resulted in convictions, and that includes those that were overturned on appeal. In only 259 cases did the rapist plead guilty at trial. The 2002 conviction rate - which is lower for rape than any other violent crime - fell from 6% in 2001. "This year on year increase in,attrition represents a justice gap that the government has pledged to address," says the study. The researchers tracked 3,500 rape cases through the courts and interviewed 228 rape victims.

While they conclude there was some evidence of poor investigation and lack of understanding of the law, the main problem was the culture of scepticism among both the police and prosecutors.

They say that rape is unique because in no other crimes were victims subject to such scrutiny in court or was the defendant so likely to claim the victim had consented to the attack. Between half and two-thirds of all cases are dropped before they come to court.

The researchers suggest that more women police officers and crown prosecutors could help create a "culture of belief, support and respect" as well as a growing network of sexual assault referral centres and rape crisis centres. The development of "courtroom advocacy that does justice to the complainant's,account" would also help.

The Home Office researchers also say that there needs to be an increased recognition of the significance of alcohol in rape and sexual assault, in*cluding further work on the extent to which men target unknown women who are drinking and the strategies they use to make contact.


A Gap Or a Chasm?Attrition in Reported Rape Cases, Honu Office research study 293
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ rds/pdfs05/hors293.pdf