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Women’s human rights are being denied as the police and courts are failing to deliver justice after sexual violence. We’re campaigning for a fair justice system and better support for survivors.


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For the year ending September 2021, the police recorded 170,973 sexual offences – the highest on record

Just 1.3% of recorded rapes resulted in a charge in the year ending September 2021

The number of rape convictions in 2020/21 was 1,109 – the lowest on record and down from 1,439 the previous year

The average delay between a rape and the completion of the resulting criminal case rose to 1,000 days in 2021 for the first time.

The average time from when a rape case is referred by the police to the CPS for a charging decision is now over four times as long as the time taken for all crimes

Our justice system is broken and failing survivors of rape. Recent years have seen plummeting charging, prosecutions and convictions of perpetrators, leaving survivors in a system that is stacked against them. EVAW and our member organisations Rape Crisis England & Wales, Imkaan and the Centre for Women’s Justice joined together to expose the decriminalisation of rape, as myths and stereotypes pervade and shape every stage of the justice process.

It was because of this that EVAW and the Centre for Women’s Justice brought a judicial review against the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). We brought evidence to the High Court that the CPS had changed its policy around whether or not to prosecute serious sexual offences. However this landmark case came to an end when the Court of Appeal declined to examine the evidence presented on vehalf of EVAW by the Centre for Women’s Justice, and instead accepts the case made by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that there had been no change ‘in substance’ to the policy that the CPS apply when they consider whether or not to prosecute a serious sexual offence.

We may not have won in court, but by rallying together with thousands of incredible survivors, we put rape on the agenda like never before and put our justice agencies under the microscope to ensure accountability and transformation. Although this case came to an end, we’re continuing to fight for #RapeJusticeNow.

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