The tiny percentage of rape complaints that result in prosecution is “depressing” but not surprising, according to the Rape Crisis Network.
New figures, released to Newstalk under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that just 13% of rapes reported to Gardaí in the last two years were prosecuted.
The figures show that of the 1,597 rape complaints made in 2017 and 2018, just 215 resulted in a prosecution.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said there are a number of reasons for the “depressing” figures.
“We get a lot more people disclosing rape and sexual assault to us because we run the national 24-hour helpline so we know there is a lot more than that,” she said.
“The reasons people drop off are varied. Some people drop of the system because they get tired and worn out by the process. Some people are afraid of the process and there is no doubt that it is one of the most vicious trial processes going.
“The delay is another reason for it and then, because it is such a hidden crime, you will often find that people will report, that they will be accepted, the Gardaí will investigate but there just isn’t the evidence there to follow through.”
Trial process
She said many people don’t understand the investigative process when they first report an attack.
“Some of the time, people will, as they go through and as they realise how intimate the investigation is, how everything is gone through, that they can’t go ahead with it,” she said.
“Sometimes they are coerced or persuaded against it because one of the unusual facets of this crime is that it normally happens to someone, by somebody that they know.
“It can be somebody within their family and the family may say, ‘don’t go through with it, you are disrupting the family or whatever.’”
Review
She said the Government announced a review of the process over two years ago; however, it has yet to be published – despite a similar review in the North being completed and implemented over a year ago.
She said authorities must publish and implement the review to help victims of sexual crime.
She also called for every Garda division in the country to have a specialist set of investigators for sexual crimes.
You can listen back to the full interview here:
