The police’s response to reports of sexual offences such as indecent exposure has come into sharp focus, following allegations that the Met failed to investigate an accusation of indecent exposure from 2015 that could have identified Wayne Couzens as a sexual threat to women - six years before the police officer murdered Sarah Everard.
The fallout further damages trust in the police to take sexual offences seriously – an effect that can be clearly seen in statistics.
Research shows that the overwhelming majority of victims do not report sexual offences such as harassment or indecent exposure.
And even when they do, the vast majority of their reports do not result in any legal action against the alleged perpetrator.
Setting aside rape – the most serious sexual offence – leaves a broad category of offences including unwanted touching and indecent exposure. Tracking these cases through the criminal justice system shows that fewer than 1% of sexual offence experiences result in a conviction.
Unwanted touching was the most common type of sexual offence experienced, followed by indecent exposure, according to the latest ONS dataset analysing sexual offence cases in the criminal justice system.
What happens when people experience sexual offences
Rape is more clearly defined within the judicial system. Yet even in rape, the most serious of sex crimes where the survivor lives after the event, figures show the system by which we hold men to account for sexual violence against women is broken.
The fallout of the system is also reflected in how rape is treated by the criminal justice system, which campaigners say can lead victims to question if there is any point in reporting “lesser” sexual crimes.
Rape statistics: 1% of incidents of rape lead to a conviction
Most rapes happen in private places between people who already know one another, prompting questions from people working in the field whether more police, CCTV, and increased street lighting really get to the heart of the issue.
But reform of the police and justice system is needed, says Vera Baird, Victims Commissioner for England and Wales: “There’s no substitute for the criminal justice system, because you do have to send the message out – this is criminal and the criminal justice system will deal with it at some point.”
Data: Guardian analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics release on sexual offending, December 2018. Figures are drawn from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Crown Prosecution Service. Data sources aren’t directly comparable due to timescales. However, looking at the different data sources together provides an overall picture of sexual offences and offenders through the criminal justice system.
