Monday, December 3, 2007

Britain's new policy for rape trials

This was in the womens enews Cheers and Jeers section today. If anyone finds the original BBC report, please let me know.

"Britain has officially announced a new policy for rape trials: Video statements made by the victim will be admissible as primary evidence in court and accusations will be prosecuted no matter how much time has elapsed since the crime occurred. Juries will now be briefed about common misperceptions and myths surrounding rape. The changes are intended to increase the number of rapes reported and improve the conviction rate, which is currently about 5.7 percent of the cases going to trial, the BBC reported Nov. 28."

1 comment:

KelseyP said...

I was really excited to read this blurb, so I did some searching. There is a video article on BBC news if you search "New Focus on Rape Trials" on the website, or you can watch it on YouTube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=x9oHjf0OBwQ

This is amazing. Perhaps someday our government will follow in their footsteps.