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Rape

Answer

Rape is one of the most complex and challenging offences to prosecute and charging decisions have a profound impact on those involved. The CPS has undertaken extensive work over the last decade to ensure that when reaching prosecution decisions specialist prosecutors are fully equipped to deal with the particular complexities of rape cases.

While the CPS does not hold a record of the number of complaints of rape to the police, we can provide data on the number of rape prosecutions and convictions recorded by the CPS system.

The table below provides the volume of rape prosecutions broken down by CPS Area.

	2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
Cymru Wales	278	224	233	257	276	217	251	230
Eastern	212	239	201	224	266	298	275	226
East Midlands	293	311	278	252	271	277	320	383
London North	495	352	349	376	414	368	430	365
London South	366	316	318	354	397	366	416	357
Merseyside & Cheshire	142	135	127	120	143	176	243	202
North East	220	227	199	194	214	229	285	289
North West	478	459	455	454	556	557	601	469
South East	299	277	236	260	328	348	440	288
South West	222	257	300	288	287	306	296	310
Thames and Chiltern	202	203	181	204	266	269	303	187
Wessex	197	161	174	207	221	200	184	118
West Midlands	396	323	338	346	398	506	644	553
Yorkshire & Humberside	408	380	303	355	499	526	502	540
Total	4,208	3,864	3,692	3,891	4,536	4,643	5,190	4,517

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

The following table provides a breakdown by CPS Area of the volume of rape convictions.

	2010-2011	2011-2012	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
Cymru Wales	146	140	135	149	150	115	139	140
Eastern	145	165	136	142	165	167	169	142
East Midlands	166	208	188	174	186	179	208	231
London North	258	191	187	208	217	197	232	187
London South	190	179	180	173	183	197	231	177
Merseyside & Cheshire	82	77	90	90	96	100	138	114
North East	144	128	126	112	108	125	156	167
North West	298	288	283	274	295	342	370	266
South East	165	177	151	155	187	175	232	159
South West	154	175	198	182	166	194	181	213
Thames and Chiltern	111	125	112	123	157	162	162	111
Wessex	105	110	117	108	90	99	133	78
West Midlands	240	200	227	226	263	309	345	311
Yorkshire & Humberside	261	251	203	232	318	328	295	339
Total	2,465	2,414	2,333	2,348	2,581	2,689	2,991	2,635

Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

262243

Session

2017-19

Subjects

Complaints Convictions Prosecutions Rape

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk