Women Against Rape

Ex drug user wins compensation for rape -
 

I came across the WAR website by chance after failing to obtain justice through the Courts and compensation. I found myself fighting for a criminal injuries award I knew would help me rebuild my shattered life. The psychological effects of my unresolved rape case were devastating and spread outwards affecting every aspect of my life. I became reclusive, unable to trust anyone, let alone have relationships. I suffered at work without realising the real cause.

More You Tube films

TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED

With Silvers Solicitors @ Crossroads Women's Centre in Kentish Town
12 – 1.30pm
Last Monday of every month
(Pop in or call for appointment.)

Since 1976 WAR has been providing support & legal advocacy to women and girls escaping violence, and campaigning for protection from the criminal justice system. We have:
* Won legal recognition that rape in marriage is a crime.
* Helped bring the first successful private prosecution for rape.
* Won compensation for women discriminated against because they were sex workers, had a health condition or a criminal record, were drunk or on drugs…
* Won recognition that women claiming asylum may have been too traumatised to report rape, and are entitled to present "fresh evidence".
* Helped a rape survivor win £38,000 compensation for illegal detention.

Since in cases of rape and sexual assault

o   The conviction rate for recorded rape is only 5.7% 

o   Despite the introduction of legal changes, specialist units and further training, many of those paid to enforce the law on rape are not doing this job

o  The police often do not collect all the evidence or lose or misinterpret it

o  The Crown Prosecution Service routinely turn down strong cases and often prosecute rape incompetently and negligently

o  Judges exercise their own sexism, racism and other prejudice, allowing victims to be put on trial in court (including through the illegal use of their sexual history), misdirecting juries and reinforcing prejudices they may bring

o  Incompetent professionals, who would be disciplined or even sacked in other professions, are not dismissed and rarely disciplined in any way.

When it was made public that the police had allowed John Worboys to rape dozens and possibly hundreds of women, many people asked, “How could this happen?” A damning report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) issued in response to a rape victim’s complaint, hits the media today. It provides a blow-by-blow of an unconnected rape investigation by London’s flagship specialist rape units – Project Sapphire. It shows that:

[Women Against Rape is strongly opposed to lifting a complainant’s anonymity. See quote below.]

The Times March 10, 2007, Frances Gibb, Legal Editor

Ministers are looking at giving the Court of Appeal the power to remove the anonymity of serial rape accusers when cases involving them come before judges, The Times has learnt.

The idea of a power to lift a complainant’s anonymity, to be used only in exceptional cases, comes after a case last autumn in which a man’s conviction for sexual assault was quashed as unsafe and his accuser, dubbed a “serial and repeated liar”, was named in the Commons.

But the Solicitor-General, Mike O'Brien, who has been master-minding the proposed reforms, told The Times: “The Government has no plans to remove anonymity for complainants in the vast majority of cases.”

Dear Peter Spurgeon,

We are writing to complain about discrimination by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority against rape survivors. Paragraph 13 allows CICA Members wide discretionary power to reduce or refuse compensation on the basis of an applicant’s character or conduct. This power is being abused to discriminate against some victims.

In particular, we refer you to the CICA’s recent treatment of Ms S (your ref. x/97/206610-REV1) who, while working as a prostitute in September 1996, was raped, beaten and robbed. Her assailant was prosecuted and sentenced to five, three and three years in prison to run concurrently. Ms S applied for compensation as is her statutory right.

"I have been granted leave to remain in the UK.  I can not express my appreciation to Women Against Rape who played a vital role to make this day come true.

They called me almost every week while I was in Yarl's Wood IRC and gave me moral support and encouraged me to be strong. I remember how we spoke on the phone while I was being driven to the airport to be deported to my country. They said, a barrister had been sent to court to stop my removal. I was nonplussed to know that people were out there fighting for me. They struggled to get me one of the best existing solicitors. Victory became mine since she started to represent me. WAR also wrote a letter concerning the rape I suffered and why some women can not report rape early.

A rape survivor who was unable to give a full statement to the police applied for compensation three years later, fought an initial refusal – and won!

Today's measures can have little impact in the face of a culture that systematically neglects victims of sexual assault

Guardian 15 April 09
by Libby Brooks

I have only heard one person expounding at length that women regularly "cry rape" in order to enjoy a free ride home in a squad car after a night out. And he was a detective sergeant. Certainly, a tiny and overexposed minority do confect allegations. Many, many more do not. This is Britain in the spring of 2009. An estimated 47,000 women are raped in this country every year. Between 75% and 95% of them will never report their attack. Of those who do, only a quarter make it to court, and there face an abject conviction rate of 6.5%. By my most conservative calculations, this results in 191 of those 47,000 ever seeing justice done.