Driven by a policy among U.K. police and prosecutors to not pursue rape cases, convictions slumped to their lowest level on record last year despite more reports from victims. The 59% decline since 2016 was accompanied by police and prosecutors demanding access to victims' devices, a tacit admission that they did not want to work for any but the most perfectly chaste victims. The situation is so bad that the government recently threatened the Crown Prosecution Service with rape prosecution quotas. Moreover, ignoring rapes unless victims consent to "digital strip searches" leads to new and adjacent problems: revenge porn is exploding in prevalence in the U.K., reports the BBC, and the pandemic lockdown is making matters worse, faster.
There have been more cases of non-consensual pornography reported to a dedicated UK helpline so far this year than in all of 2019. Around two-thirds of cases reported to the helpline involve women.Helpline manager Sophie Mortimer said the sustained rise is evidence of behaviour triggered by the lockdown, and greater awareness of the crime and support…
David Wright, director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said: "The lockdown produced an extreme set of circumstances which are bringing a lot of problems. What we are seeing here, however, suggests something more long-term has happened which could mean we will be busier than ever before. It's worrying to think this could be the new normal."Research by domestic violence charity Women's Aid found that more than 60% of survivors living with their abuser reported that the abuse they experienced got worse during the pandemic.Campaign and policy manager Lucy Hadley said: "Disclosing private sexual images – or threatening to do so – is a common form of abuse, and is particularly harming young women."
