This “unacceptably low” number will continue without “stronger reforms” in the criminal justice system, the Commons Committee on Home Affairs said, adding that the reforms “will require significant funding to have an impact”.
Committee Chairman Diana Johnson said: “The decline in the number of prosecutions for rape and sex crimes over the last five years is truly shocking and completely unacceptable.
“While it is clear that significant efforts are being made to reverse this decline in the criminal justice system, much remains to be done.
“Thousands of victims are failing to get the justice they deserve. It must be stopped.
“We have to see a lot more ambition and focus.
“From now on, every element of the system related to rape and sex crimes must be constantly reviewed and reformed. “It can not take a step back until the prosecutions and verdicts are much higher than even in 2016.”
The government’s review of rape as a program to address the problem as a lack of “ambition,” the committee said, “there is little confidence” that by 2024.
It called on ministers to “go much further, much faster – to change the way rape, sex crimes in the police force, the Royal Prosecutor’s Service (CPS) and the courts deal, to create a significant increase in prosecutions and convictions.”
The committee made a number of recommendations, saying that the victims might receive the support they needed during the “criminal prosecution” investigation, and said that the response of the police force would “improve”.
It also called on the CPS to improve the way it communicates with victims.
The government spokesman said. “While the committee acknowledges the progress we have made, we are clear that much more needs to be done.
“This is why we are recruiting more counselors on sexual violence, disseminating pre-recorded evidence faster, improving co-operation between the Crown Prosecution Service, and increasing victim support funding to a minimum of 40 440 million over the next three years.”
“The latest data show that there has been a modest increase in allegations of rape. Our reforms will accelerate this progress.”
