Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 6 February 2007.

Crime: Rape

Question: My Lords, my noble and learned friend is concerned essentially about the low conviction rate. We all want more guilty men to go to prison; they should be in prison, and we want the conviction rate to go up. Is it not about time that we revisited the law? Increasingly, both in here and outside in the country, more and more anomalies in the law are being reported.

Answer: My Lords, I am not sure that I know precisely what my noble friend has in mind. He will be aware of two things. First, as has already been referred to, a recent important joint report by the inspectorates of the Crown Prosecution Service and Her Majesty’s constabulary has looked at the way in which rape cases in particular are dealt with by the police and the prosecutors. Secondly, he will be aware that the Government issued a consultation paper at the end of last year; the Government are now considering the responses, which ask questions about whether aspects of the law should be changed in this field.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 689 c594
Session: 2006-07
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Databases Criminal investigation Fingerprints Genetics Rape Victims Perjury
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk