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Rape prosecution data for half of Wales’ police forces ‘suppressed’ due to low numbers

25 Mar 2022 2 minute read
Justice

Rape prosecution data has been “suppressed” for half of Wales’ police forces because of “low volumes”.

Today the Ministry of Justice published new ‘criminal justice scorecards’ which are meant to reveal the best and worst-performing police forces and Crown Prosecution Service areas.

The data shows that in South Wales Police, 6.8% of recorded adult rape offences resulted in a charge, while in Gwent the figure was 10%.

Despite being so low, Gwent’s figure was in fact the highest percentage recorded across Wales and England.

For North Wales and Dyfed-Powys Police, however, the figures were “suppressed due to low volumes”.

In Dyfed-Powys, six cases had been referred to the CPS, according to the figures. For North Wales, once again, the figures were “suppressed due to low volumes”.

Across England and Wales, just 1.1% per cent of reported rapes led to a suspect being charged.

Last year, the Home Office pledged a long-awaited new initiative to restore rape charges to at least the level seen in 2016.

Speaking in the Senedd earlier this month, Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Delyth Jewell raised the “appallingly low conviction rates in rape cases” in Wales in a debate about the devolution of policing.

“In devolving policing, as well as the justice system, we can start to tackle these deep-set inequalities within our society,” she said.

“We can link justice and policing with health, education and social policy.”

Conservative Senedd Member Mark Isherwood however described the idea of devolving policing as “operational insanity and financial lunacy”.


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