Tabled EDM (a form of Parliamentary petition) earlier this week:
That this House commends the invaluable work of Rape Crisis in bringing much needed support to people affected by sexual violence, often years after the offences have taken place; recognises the vital nature of this organisation; but notes with sadness that in 1984 there were 68 affiliated members of Rape Crisis (England and Wales) but in 2008 there are just 38; believes this is a failure of successive governments; and endorses the New Statesman’s campaign to secure proper funding from the Government so existing Rape Crisis centres can continue their work and new centres can open’
Three cheers for the New Statesman for running this issue. There is a petition you can sign on the Downing Street website.
Peter Black has also blogged about this and explains well the importance of the issue:
The New Statesman has launched a campiagn to help secure proper funding for Rape Crisis. In their article they reveal that the number of Rape Crisis-affiliated centres in England and Wales has nearly halved from 68 to 38 since 1984.
They write that the British Crime Survey suggests there are more than 300,000 rapes and serious sexual assaults each year. Most are not reported. One in four women have experience rape or attempted rape. One in seven women have been coerced into sex. Yet conviction rates have plummeted from 33% in the 1970s to around 5% now. Rape Crisis have provided help for countless victims of sexual violence many of whom only come forward years after being attacked.
Lynne Featherstone 
“300,000 rapes and serious sexual assaults each year” is the sort of impressive headline to catch one’s attention. It is within the realm of levels seen for Domestic Violence, but these days DV has been broadeened and includes nasty stares, withhlolding money and being just mean – and not just actual physical contact.
So how likely is it that rape is as prevalent as DV ?
If Rape Crisis is to be funded adequately a means of filtering out the 55% of bogus rape claims needs to be found. The cost of investigating each rape claim – bogus or genuine – can be as low as £15,000 and as high as £330,000 in police time and forensic costs alone. The trial costs, ie of court staff, laywers and judges then dwarfs those costs.
Do the maths: 14,000 clains pa x £100,000 Avg cost = £1,400,000,000.
Does anyone have a spare trillion pounds these days ?
Times are now long gone when Gov’t could spend someone else’s money with impunity. What solutions does Rape Crisis have to offer if it is not to appear simply as whingeing ?