The Landscape in Sussex

in 2010 we had 1421 calls on the telephone helpline = a month (open four sessions a week) Telephone Helpline Calls in 2011: 5% Experienced SV during Adulthood only 27% Experienced SV during Childhood only 69% Experienced SV during both Adulthood and Childhood since Lifecentre started in 2001 we have received around 10,000 calls on the telephone helplines

Total On Text and Helplines combined 2010 – – 30,000 Text helpline service 2010 Total texts in 4817 individuals 59, new users Average 2350 texts in per month Helpline service averages s received a year over 160 per month

Lifecentre Tel Helpline stats: In % female, 3% male, 27% silent 10% 1st time callers 34% were known to us as having reported to the police

Lifecentre face2face client stats: in 2011, of a total of around 300 clients, all ages… 88% were female; 12% male (2010: 19% male) 2010: 37% reported to the police 2011: 51% reported to the police 21% were referred to us from the police/SARC (SARC = 38 Females; 4 Males; 16%) 27% were raped/sexually abused as adults; 66% as children and 7% in adulthood as well as during their childhood 54% abused in a domestic context

Demand for Face to Face Counselling Increasing January to October 2011 Lifecentre has delivered 2,450 individual counselling sessions. This represents a 28% increase in number of sessions delivered in 2010.

Based on indices of multiple deprivation... 16% of our clients come from wards which are ranked within the bottom two deciles nationally (as compared to the 7% of the population in the areas we serve who live in such wards in total). 33% of our clients are from wards in the bottom decile locally.

Client Feedback 97% of clients receiving F2F counselling considered they had “mostly benefitted or benefitted a lot” from their course of counselling. “This incident in my life has lost all it’s power. I am ready to get on with the rest of my life now.” rape survivor - man in his late 30’s

according to the British Crime Survey 2007/8: Five percent of all women have experienced rape but only 15 percent of people report sexual crimes to the police Of those that do report, 70% of cases are lost before the case makes it to court.

In Sussex April 10 - March 11… 1157 serious sexual offences were reported to the Police 492 rape incidents (including attempts) reported

Only around 6% of recorded cases of rape reach a conviction in court nationally (based on comparing convictions with all cases reported) In Sussex: CPS only measures the conviction rate for those cases that are actually charged – rather than all cases reported to the police. On this basis… –In the year April 2010 to March 2011 attrition rate in Sussex was 44.35% ; so 55.65% conviction rate. –Sept ’09-’ % of those that went to court resulted in conviction (72.1% national average); 54.92% Sept ’10-’11 (60.52% national average) - Jury Acquittals accounted for 59.26% of all unsuccessful outcomes in This compares with a jury acquittal rate of 66.67% in

SUSSEX – RAPE PROSECUTIONS - significant increase in rape prosecutions : 51.31% increase recorded 1 st April -31 st March from 1 st April -31 st March accompanied by a very large reduction in rape cases discontinued by CPS in the same period (24.3% reduced to 16.5%) This is due to the Merits Based Approach In December 2010 the DPP reinforced the ‘merits based approach.’ This requires prosecutors to deal effectively with myths and stereotypes, such as those related to consent or alcohol consumption, when deciding whether or not there is sufficient evidence to charge and to ignore any prejudices society might hold.

The long term trend is one of steadily increasing numbers of prosecutions for rape as shown in the following table: Year (up to ) Prosecutions38No Data

Rape in Sussex 12 months to Sept = rate of offences per 1, = number of rapes police recorded 6.1% = % no crimed (Sept ‘10-’11: 12% no crimed – 43 out of 358) 22.9% = sanction detection rate

A Landscape of Challenges…

1. Sexual Violence: the Poor Relation?

2. The Need for Expert Psychological Support

3. The Challenge of People not Wanting to Report 75-95% of rapes are thought to be never reported (‘Without Consent’, a report by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary).

Third Party Reporting Form THIS IS A 000/20 REPORT THIS IS NOT TO BE ALLOCATED TO A TQ. The information within this report is not to be investigated, as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding that exists between Sussex Police and the Lifecentre. This report needs to be sent to the Crime Manager and CMU manager of the relevant Division for any necessary actions to be set.

4. The Challenge of Increasing Disclosure

5. The Challenge of Prevention

6. The Challenge of Increasing Reporting A third of victims withdraw their complaints to the police because they are afraid of going to court. ‘Without Consent’, a report by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary