Irish rape conviction rate under 2%

ONLY 1% to 2% of reported rape cases in Ireland result in a conviction, figures show. Ireland has the lowest conviction rate of 21 European countries surveyed.

The next lowest conviction rate for England, Wales, Scotland and Sweden is between 8% and 10%.

Prof Liz Kelly, director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies unit at London Metropolitan University, said attrition rates had risen throughout the European Union with the single exception of Germany.

"These findings should act as a wake up call for anyone concerned with justice, equality and human rights," said Prof Kelly, who will address a major conference on sexual violence in Dublin today

Prof Kelly said most EU states were failing to provide protection and redress from sexual violence for female citizens.

Ms Fiona Neary, national co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI), said Ireland had a relatively good conviction rate, butmany cases did not make it to the prosecution stage.

"Of the rape cases proceeded with, 71% resulted in a conviction. So, once we get to the prosecution stage, things are not that bad. But getting to the prosecution stage is where we really have a problem," she said.

Ms Neary said the solution was not simply that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) should proceed with more cases.

The findings produced by Prof Kelly showed that an increase in prosecutions did not result in an increase in convictions.

Many cases did not even make it as far as the DPP's office, and there were complex reasons for cases 'falling out' of the system. This autumn, the RCNI, and the law faculty at Galway University, will undertake a three-year study of attrition figures in Ireland.

The study will examine the changes needed in both the legal system and society to achieve greater justice for victims of sexual violence.

Ms Neary said they needed to know which cases the DPP had decided not to proceed with, and why.

"That would tell us the type of cases that are not going to result in convictions," she explained.

They had asked for that kind of information many times but, to date, had failed to get it.

Many cases were also falling out of the system because victims felt they had not got enough support to wait two to three years for a prosecution to be secured.

"Rape crisis centres don't have the kind of funding to give survivors the kind of support they need to stick with the process," said Ms Neary. People raped by someone they know, such as an acquaintance or ex-partner, were those more likely to report the crime.

But, those crimes were also less likely to result in a conviction.