Attrition in Rape and Sexual Assault Cases

This article presents the key findings of a research project investigating changing police policies and practices at two London police stations in relation to rape and sexual assault cases. Despite a shift to the more sensitive treatment of women reporting sexual attacks, the attrition rate remains high. The police practice of no-criming1 a high proportion of cases is compounded by the negative role of the Crown Prosecution Service and the extreme difficulty of securing a conviction when cases do come to court. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for a radical overhaul of the judicial process. The research project reported in this paper aimed to assess the impact of recent changes within the criminal justice system in the treatment of reported cases of rape and sexual assault, examining both the process of attrition (the rate at which cases are lost or dropped) and the quality of service delivery to complainants. In order to achieve these objectives crime report forms of all cases of sexual assault held at two police stations within the London Borough of Islington over a two-year period (Sep-tember 1988 to September 1990) were analysed; interviews were conducted with women who reported rape or sexual assault to the police and with representatives from various local professional agencies and volunteer groups concerned with issues of sexual assault. Additional information was obtained from a meeting with the Branch Prose-cutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), an interview with a police surgeon and discussions with police officers working at all levels of the police hierarchy, including members of the child protection team. The Islington Councils Police and Crime Pre-vention Unit provided us with funding through the Department of the Environments Inner Cities programme. The Islington Police Committee has been at the forefront of a number of crime prevention research initiatives, beginning with the Islington Crime