Actress Jodie Comer slammed criminal justice failings and demanded “something has to change” at a special screening in London of her award-winning play Prima Facie.
The 32-year-old star told an audience - which included Justice Minister Sarah Sackman - on Thursday night that less than three in every 100 reports of rape lead to a criminal charge.
And she highlighted agonising delays in the justice system, with victims forced to wait an average of more than 2,300 days between reporting a sexual assault to it being heard in court.
“To say the problem of sexual assault is huge is an understatement”, she told the screening, at the Ham Yard hotel in Soho.
She said she and the production team behind Prima Facie “had our eyes peeled open to the sheer scale of the issues we as a society have around it”.
“The brutal truth is one in three women experience sexual assault”, she said, adding: “Something has to change.”
Her words come as the Labour government is reportedly planning to massively scaling back the right to jury trial, in a bid to tackle chronic delays in justice which stem from a Crown Court backlog of 80,000 criminal cases.
In London, some criminal trials are now being set in 2030 and there is growing evidence of criminal cases collapsing because victims and witnesses cannot stand waiting for years to see justice being done.
However the plan to limit jury trials to just cases of murder, manslaughter, and rape has faced a significant backlash from across the legal sector after it leaked earlier this week.
Prima Facie producer James Bierman told the screening audience that “underfunded” and “creaking” public services “shouldn’t stop us as a community and society coming together to make things different”, and urgent politicians to looking beyond party politics for solutions to the scourge of sexual violence.
Prima Facie, originally performed at the Harold Pinter theatre in London’s West End and filmed to be screened in cinemas, highlights the agonising wait that victims of sexual violence have to endure before a trial can take place, the often bewildering cross-examination process, and rape myths that endure in the court system.
Comer, who plays a criminal defence barrister, won an Olivier Award and a Tony for her spellbinding solo performance, and she is returning to the role next year for a new UK tour.
The special screening was hosted by Claire Waxman in her final act as London Victims Commissioner, as she prepares to take on the National Victims Commissioner role in the New Year.
She highlighted the “emotional toll” of huge delays in justice, and said the play “forces us to question how justice is being delivered on rape and sexual violence”.
A panel discussion after the screening raised the problems of rape myths – such as the idea that sexual assault victims cannot have suffered abuse more than once – still being perpetuated in the courts, and highlighted a campaign to stop victims being criticised in court for having previously made a sexual offence allegation which did not lead to a criminal charge.
Ms Sackman addressed the emerging news on jury trials, telling the audience she is “not afraid of the idea of bold and controversial”.
“My responsibility is to think about rewatching that play 80,000 times”, she said. “Those are the people facing the delays.”
She said if rape victims are being told their trial cannot be heard until 2030, then “justice isn’t being served, and that’s why we are having to contemplate bold and – let’s call it what it is – controversial reforms”.
Leaked internal memos on the government’s plans suggested it wants to go beyond the reforms suggested by former Court of Appeal judge Sir Brian Leveson, after he conducted an independent review of ideas to tackle the backlog.
Sir Brian proposed that some trials could be dealt with by a panel compromised of a judge and two magistrates, but the government’s plans appeared to suggest it would push for judge-only trials instead.
Sir Brian was seen having a frank exchange of views with Ms Sackman after the conclusion of the play screening, just a few hours after it was reported that the government may be rowing back on the judge-only trial plans.
Riel Karmy-Jones KC, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association, voice legal opposition to the reform, telling the event there is a risk of judges becoming “hardened and cynical” when overseeing trials.
“Judges will hear trial after trial and lose the humanity of each individual case”, she said.
She added that the jury can “provide a check and balance” to bad behaviour by barristers, including some who push rape myths as tactics in cross-examination.
“I’m in favour of juries, they produce a better end result.”
