Data obtained by the equality campaigning group, the Fawcett Society, reveals that in the worst area, Dorset, fewer than one in 60 women who went to police in 2007 saw an attacker convicted of rape. Although the conviction rate rose slightly to 7% across England and Wales from 2006, the figure fell in 16 out of 42 police forces, 12 of which had a conviction rate below 5%. In Warwickshire the figure was 2.9%, and Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire all had a rate of 3.1%.

The best performing area, Cleveland, had a rate of 18.1%, up from 13.2% the year before, the statistics obtained through a freedom of information request showed. Rachel Williams, The Guardian.

Awful, what else can one say? The director of the Fawcett Society, Katherine Rake, said:

“The appalling figures in most police force areas vividly illustrate that your outcome depends on where you live, and that’s really not acceptable. It’s also very worrying that rates went down in some areas. It is a national scandal that thousands of victims have no access to justice, and frequently face a culture of disbelief and delayed responses which may lead to the loss of vital evidence. Not getting a conviction can have a devastating impact on victims. Women deserve support, safety and justice from the criminal justice system and this is not being delivered.”