NCJ Number
73853
Journal
Home Office Research Bulletin Issue: 10 Dated: (1980) Pages: 32-35
Date Published
1980
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Britain's rape statistics on occurrence, prosecution, age of offenders and victims, and sentencing are placed into perspective with other crime statistics for the country.
Abstract
The 1978 incidence of 1,243 reported rapes is 5 times the immediate post-war figure of 251 in 1946. The rape figures have risen twice as fast as figures for other sexual offenses. However, figures for nonsexual violent crimes have increased almost 22 times the 1946 figures. Clearance rates for rapes have remained at approximately 75 to 80 percent since 1946. The prosecution rate for rape seems to be consistently about 80 percent. The incidence of cautioning offenders for rape is minimal. Annual fluctuations in the acquittal rate are quite large, but about 30 percent of persons initially proceeded against at a magistrates' court for rape are acquitted totally and another 5 percent are acquitted of rape but convicted of indecent assault. Most convicted rape offenders are between 17 and 29. Almost half the victims are 13 to 18, another 35 percent are 18 to 35. A higher proportion of custodial sentences is passed for rape than for any other offense but murder. About 90 percent of adults convicted of full rape or attempted rape receive a custodial sentence. Sentences are from 2 years or less (15-20 percent), 2 to 3 years (30 percent), 3 to 4 years (20 percent), and over 5 years (30-35 percent). Half those convicted are strangers to their victims, 27 percent, casual acquaintances, and 23 percent, well-known to their victims. Three other factors are associated with the imposition of long sentences: the aggressiveness of the assault, the criminal record of the offender, and advanced age of the victim. Six references are included.