AN MP has said that juries should be abolished from serious sex trials as part of a radical overhaul in how our courts work.
Sir John Gillen is leading an independent review following the acquittal of two Irish rugby internationals of rape charges in Belfast earlier this year.
The leading judge published a preliminary report yesterday with more than 220 draft recommendations for courts in Northern Ireland – including restricting access to serious sexual crime trials to only close family members of the alleged victim and defendant and the mainstream media.
However Stockport MP Ann Coffey wants to go a step further and, in some trials across the UK, remove juries from cases as members take negative stereotypes of women “into the court room”.
She said: “Juries view evidence through the lens of prevailing stereotypes which shape the views of society.
“There is still a dominance of rape myths in our culture, including that a women who has drunk a lot cannot complain if she is raped or that it is only rape if someone has injuries or that real rapes are done by strangers in alleyways.
“Research shows that stereotypes about how rape victims are expected to behave remain prevalent in society – and by extension in juries.
“There is still a lack of understanding about why a woman might not report an assault immediately, or might not fight or how a victim of a sexual assault might behave in the immediate aftermath of an attack.
“There are still huge gaps in the public understanding about what sexual consent actually means. Juries take these attitudes into the court room with them.”
She added: “The danger is we will be thrown back to the dark days where victims of abuse are silenced and dare not speak out.”
RAPE STATS: Jurors fail to convict more than a third of young men charged with rape
LESS than a third of young men arrested for rape are convicted, new stats reveal.
Figures show men aged 18 to 24 in England and Wales are less likely to be found guilty than older suspects.
Here are the key statisitics…
- Only 32 per cent 18- to 24-year-old men arrested for rape were convicted last year – the lowest of any age group
- This is compared to 46 per cent of successful prosecutions against men aged 25-59
- In the past five years there have been 1,343 rape cases against 18- to 24-year-old men. Only 404 were convicted
- Conviction rate for young men in all rape cases – including child and domestic abuse cases – is at 35 per cent for the past five years
- The same rate for men aged 25-59 was a lot higher at 49 per cent
The public is excluded in the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and Australia from some cases. In Scotland onlookers are barred when the complainant gives evidence.
However despite these restrictions, juries remain present.
Other key draft recommendations from the recently retired Court of Appeal judge Sir John Gillen included creating new laws surrounding inappropriate use of social media, where the name of the alleged victim and even images may circulate and which in a small jurisdiction like Northern Ireland may seriously damage a person’s anonymity.
The report urged strong judicial powers to control access to websites during trials and the making of fresh offences for jurors who offend against judicial guidance.
Under-reporting of serious sexual crime is “unacceptably low”, with around one in six telling police of their ordeal.
Early pre-recording of cross-examination could take place in a non-courtroom setting to make the process easier for alleged victims and encourage people to come forward, the preliminary report said.
It also said that the physical layout of older courthouses could be altered to ensure a victim and their accused did not meet.
A judge would consider whether certain questions could be asked of an accused beforehand.
Public funding would enable legal representation for the victim in cases where she or he may be asked about sexual history or face intrusive scrutiny of personal life.
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The judge’s draft report also called for better public education through the school system to combat myths surrounding sexual crime.
Most proposed recommendations do not require legislation but a minority, including those surrounding social media, would.