QUOTE
Rape law change to redefine consent
Steep drop in conviction rate spurs effort to protect women
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday October 28, 2002
The Guardian
Women who are drunk or under the influence of drugs will automatically be regarded as unable to give consent to sex, as part of an overhaul of the law on rape to be announced next month.
The change is part of a tighter definition of what amounts to consent to sex, which will severely restrict the circumstances in which a man can offer the defence that he "honestly believed" the woman involved wanted to have sex.
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Ministers have come down against creating a separate offence of "date rape", or acquaintance rape, on the grounds it would make it seem that such an attack was in some way less serious than being raped by a stranger. The changes in the definition of consent will apply to all forms of rape, which is expected to include oral and anal sex without consent, so that they can carry a life sentence.
Home Office ministers were angered by suggestions yesterday that proposed reforms were some kind of knee-jerk response to the furore surrounding the allegation made by the television celebrity, Ulrika Jonsson, that she had been raped by a television presenter.
"The home secretary has approved no formula for change and is considering very carefully this very difficult and sensitive issue," a spokesman said. "Speculation on specific formula or wording does not help, as it carries no authority or agreement at the political level."
The reform of the rape law forms part of a much wider overhaul of Britain's laws on sexual offences, initiated with a government consultation paper two years ago.
Britain's most senior police officer, Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, yesterday appealed to rape victims to go to the police. He said claims the police were unsympathetic to victims of rape were based on outdated attitudes.
"It is absolutely essential that if a woman goes through the trauma of rape, whatever the circumstances, that she reports it to the police," he said.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, pledged to reform the laws on rape in July, saying the fall in the conviction rate from one in three reported rapes in 1977 to one in 13 was unacceptable. His proposals have not yet been finalised but are expected to be based on a Home Office review, Setting the Boundaries, published in July 2000.
That review, written by Betty Moxon, a civil servant, recommended placing strict limits on when the "honest belief" defence could be used: "A defence of honest belief in free agreement should not be available where there was self-induced intoxication, recklessness as to consent, or if the accused did not take all reasonable steps in the circumstances to ascertain free agreement at the time."
Home Office sources make clear they are not talking about the negotiation of a legally watertight agreement before two people go to bed but stress that a rape that follows an evening out is not about any kind of consensual sex.
· Police chiefs will today press for "restorative justice" schemes, under which criminals apologise and compensate their victims, to be included in the forthcoming criminal justice bill. Police believe "going straight" contracts can cut reoffending.
Steep drop in conviction rate spurs effort to protect women
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday October 28, 2002
The Guardian
Women who are drunk or under the influence of drugs will automatically be regarded as unable to give consent to sex, as part of an overhaul of the law on rape to be announced next month.
The change is part of a tighter definition of what amounts to consent to sex, which will severely restrict the circumstances in which a man can offer the defence that he "honestly believed" the woman involved wanted to have sex.
Article continues
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ministers have come down against creating a separate offence of "date rape", or acquaintance rape, on the grounds it would make it seem that such an attack was in some way less serious than being raped by a stranger. The changes in the definition of consent will apply to all forms of rape, which is expected to include oral and anal sex without consent, so that they can carry a life sentence.
Home Office ministers were angered by suggestions yesterday that proposed reforms were some kind of knee-jerk response to the furore surrounding the allegation made by the television celebrity, Ulrika Jonsson, that she had been raped by a television presenter.
"The home secretary has approved no formula for change and is considering very carefully this very difficult and sensitive issue," a spokesman said. "Speculation on specific formula or wording does not help, as it carries no authority or agreement at the political level."
The reform of the rape law forms part of a much wider overhaul of Britain's laws on sexual offences, initiated with a government consultation paper two years ago.
Britain's most senior police officer, Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, yesterday appealed to rape victims to go to the police. He said claims the police were unsympathetic to victims of rape were based on outdated attitudes.
"It is absolutely essential that if a woman goes through the trauma of rape, whatever the circumstances, that she reports it to the police," he said.
The home secretary, David Blunkett, pledged to reform the laws on rape in July, saying the fall in the conviction rate from one in three reported rapes in 1977 to one in 13 was unacceptable. His proposals have not yet been finalised but are expected to be based on a Home Office review, Setting the Boundaries, published in July 2000.
That review, written by Betty Moxon, a civil servant, recommended placing strict limits on when the "honest belief" defence could be used: "A defence of honest belief in free agreement should not be available where there was self-induced intoxication, recklessness as to consent, or if the accused did not take all reasonable steps in the circumstances to ascertain free agreement at the time."
Home Office sources make clear they are not talking about the negotiation of a legally watertight agreement before two people go to bed but stress that a rape that follows an evening out is not about any kind of consensual sex.
· Police chiefs will today press for "restorative justice" schemes, under which criminals apologise and compensate their victims, to be included in the forthcoming criminal justice bill. Police believe "going straight" contracts can cut reoffending.
Wonder if they will try to do this here?
If they do imagine how many 'real' rapes wouldn't be investigated.