{"id":975719,"date":"2026-05-21T14:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/975719\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:55:12","slug":"london-rape-cases-are-taking-years-longer-to-finalise-than-other-crimes-cps-data-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/975719\/","title":{"rendered":"London rape cases are taking years longer to finalise than other crimes, CPS data shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

London rape cases face significantly longer court delays than other crimes, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) data indicates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With court delays<\/a> increasing year by year, and with no end in sight, the continued disparity between the finalisation of rape cases versus the general crime statistics pose a worrying reality for vulnerable victims.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Rafaela Elliston, an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) working at Solace North London<\/a>, sees the impacts these delays are having on victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you turn the corner with a case and it\u2019s charged, it\u2019s then like you\u2019re suddenly at the base of another mountain again, when it should be that a whole load of the work is done,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since 2023, the CPS has published quarterly operational data<\/a> tracking referral, prosecution, and finalisation timelines across England. <\/p>\n

While not official Ministry of Justice statistics, the data offers insight into how long cases take to move through the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

The people behind the numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Behind these statistics are victims navigating years of waiting for legal closure.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Sophie Smith was 19 years old, at university, and dealing with the aftermath of being raped by a trusted adult. <\/p>\n

Later that year, she had reported to the police and was thrust into the legal system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cGoing into it, if I had known how long the process was, I think I wouldn\u2019t have gone through with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re asking somebody to dedicate multiple years of their life to reopen that wound again.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the date of first report, it took about three years for her case to go to trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith added: \u201cI\u2019ve heard from fellow survivors that that is seen as quite quick in today\u2019s view, after Covid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now working as a mental health professional, she sees the current system as problematic for victims\u2019 recovery, failing to be properly \u2018trauma informed\u2019.<\/p>\n

This is an issue Elliston sees in her work navigating the legal system for her clients.<\/p>\n

She explained: \u201cThe justice system is getting slightly trauma informed, but I just think the reality of these systemic delays and the pressures is that it has a really serious impact on survivors\u2019 well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cSexual violence just does not match up with the very, very narrow door of legal proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referrals versus prosecution rates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2023, rape referrals rose by 78% in London, with prosecutions increasing at the significantly slower rate of 50%.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

While the slower rise in prosecutions may reflect both survivor attrition and wider court backlogs affecting rape cases, the comparative rise in prosecution rates for other crimes suggests structural barriers for rape victims in the pursuit of justice.<\/p>\n

Elliston added: \u201cIn terms of estimating how many survivors through our organisation get their day in court, it\u2019s quite hard. It\u2019s definitely less than a third of my caseload at any time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had 200 clients roughly in a year, possibly 50 of them would go to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a huge part for us of cases not getting further is the survivors understandably not being able to continue with the process. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve disengaged in some way, whether willingly, or whether that\u2019s to do with their mental health, or their immigration status, or just the emotional toll, or they\u2019ve heard how long it would be and they\u2019ve decided they can\u2019t continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Both Elliston and Smith see the possibility for change, however.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s recent controversy over his government\u2019s Courts and Tribunal Bill<\/a> has sparked conversation about the need to modernise and streamline our courts systems.<\/p>\n

Elliston believes this can be done for rape and sexual violence cases by a fuller utilisation of Section 28<\/a>\u2013 the right to give early, pre-recorded evidence, outside of the courtroom walls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cYou can see how old they are. You can see how tall they are. They can sit and be comfortable. They don\u2019t have to go to court. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the perpetrator also wants to have their evidence recorded as well, that\u2019s fine. Then the case can be stored on video, and a jury and judge can review it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith believes the reforms can go further, however.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI think for sexual violence cases, it should be a group of professionals, a forensic psychologist, psychiatrist, a criminologist, people who can understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current backlogs are not predicted to clear any time soon, but things can still change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith concluded: \u201cAll we can do is keep talking and keep pushing. But, it\u2019s going to get to a point where people can\u2019t continue like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Feature Image Credit: Katrin Bolovtsova via Pexels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London rape cases face significantly longer court delays than other crimes, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) data indicates. With…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":975720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,8182,271855,271856,28432,393,4884,257,271857,16,15],"class_list":["post-975719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-court","tag-court-delays","tag-courts-and-tribunals-bill","tag-crown-prosecution-service","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-london","tag-rape-case","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116613148369845359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/975720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}