The Government is committed to improving the rates of successful prosecution in rape cases. Specialist police units, staffed by highly skilled and trained personnel, are dedicated to enhancing the service to victims of rape and sexual assault and both PSNI and the Public Prosecution Service are seeking to develop models of best investigative practice so that more offences can achieve the threshold for prosecution.
The Northern Ireland Office and the Department of Health and Social and Personal Services have also jointly developed, and consulted on, a draft regional strategy for addressing sexual violence in Northern Ireland which will address these issues through a robust action plan delivering on strategic objectives in three key areas—crime prevention, better victim support and improved protection and justice measures. The strategy is to be published this spring.
Table 1 shows the number of rapes (including attempts) recorded by PSNI from 2001-02 to 2006-07 by DCU. As the DCU structure was only introduced in 2001-02, it is not possible to provide a breakdown by DCU prior to this year.
Table 2 shows the number of prosecutions, convictions and percentage conviction rate for rape by District Command Unit from 2000 to 2005 (the years for which figures are available).
Data are collated on the basis of the principal offence; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
It is not possible routinely to reconcile recorded crime data from PSNI with prosecution and conviction data. Data from PSNI relate to the number of offences, whereas data on prosecutions and convictions relate to the number of offenders brought before the courts. In addition, PSNI data denote each offence as it has been initially recorded, and this may differ from the offence for which a suspect or suspects are subsequently proceeded against in the courts. I therefore regret that a direct comparison between recorded rape and convictions for rape cannot easily be made.
District Command Unit Recorded 2001-02 Recorded 2002-03 Recorded 2003-04 Recorded 2004-05 Recorded 2005-06 Recorded 2006-07 Antrim 8 8 10 7 17 16 Ards 6 15 14 18 15 20 East Belfast 14 12 12 17 15 21 North Belfast 19 22 34 29 28 25 South Belfast 28 25 32 22 31 39 West Belfast 11 14 24 15 11 25 Carrickfergus 1 3 6 6 4 8 Castlereagh 13 9 7 3 7 8 Down 8 17 11 9 18 15 Lisburn 15 20 26 22 24 29 Newtownabbey 8 11 10 19 20 20 North Down 13 8 22 12 16 18 Urban region 144 164 208 179 206 244 Armagh 9 3 2 10 10 9 Ballymena 8 19 20 18 17 13 Ballymoney 0 5 5 4 3 1 Banbridge 8 10 10 11 4 9 Coleraine 9 18 16 10 15 18 Cookstown 6 6 3 3 3 6 Craigavon 20 18 19 18 20 17 Dungannon and South Tyrone 8 7 6 8 6 12 Fermanagh 4 7 9 8 10 15 Foyle 32 44 35 44 36 40 Larne 7 10 9 11 6 3 Limavady 8 7 10 11 6 9 Magherafelt 6 8 5 5 7 13 Moyle 3 5 5 3 3 0 Newry and Mourne 9 7 17 14 18 21 Omagh 5 12 5 11 17 16 Strabane 6 7 11 12 4 11 Rural region 148 193 187 201 185 213 Total 292 357 395 380 391 457
District Command Unit 2000 2001 Prosecutions Convictions Percentage convictions Prosecutions Convictions Percentage convictions Antrim 0 0 — 1 1 100 Ards 0 0 — 1 0 0 Armagh 0 0 — 0 0 — Banbridge 0 0 — 1 1 100 Belfast East 1 0 0 2 1 50 Belfast North 2 1 50 3 2 67 Belfast South 1 1 100 1 1 100 Belfast West 1 0 0 0 0 — Ballymena 0 0 — 1 0 0 Ballymoney 0 0 — 0 0 — Carrickfergus 0 0 — 0 0 — Coleraine 1 0 0 1 1 100 Cookstown 1 0 0 1 1 100 Craigavon 1 0 0 1 0 0 Castlereagh 1 1 100 0 0 — Dungannon and South Tyrone 0 0 — 2 0 0 Down 1 1 100 0 0 — Fermanagh 0 0 — 0 0 — Foyle 0 0 — 3 0 0 Larne 3 1 33 0 0 — Limavady 1 0 0 0 0 — Lisburn 1 1 100 1 0 0 Magherafelt 1 0 0 0 0 — Moyle 0 0 — 0 0 — Newtownabbey 1 1 100 2 0 0 North Down 0 0 — 1 0 0 Newry and Mourne 3 0 0 2 1 50 Omagh 0 0 — 0 0 — Strabane 0 0 — 4 3 75 Missing 0 0 — 0 0 — Total 20 7 35 28 12 43
Prosecutions Convictions Percentage convictions Prosecutions Convictions Percentage convictions Antrim 1 0 0 0 0 — Ards 1 0 0 2 1 50 Armagh 1 0 0 0 0 — Banbridge 0 0 — 0 0 — Belfast East 3 1 33 0 0 — Belfast North 4 3 75 1 0 0 Belfast South 3 2 67 4 1 25 Belfast West 0 0 — 1 1 100 Ballymena 0 0 — 1 0 0 Ballymoney 0 0 — 0 0 — Carrickfergus 0 0 — 0 0 — Coleraine 0 0 — 2 1 50 Cookstown 0 0 — 2 0 0 Craigavon 0 0 — 0 0 — Castlereagh 0 0 — 1 0 0 Dungannon and South Tyrone 0 0 — 1 0 0 Down 1 1 100 1 0 0 Fermanagh 0 0 — 2 0 0 Foyle 2 1 50 1 1 100 Larne 0 0 — 1 0 0 Limavady 0 0 — 0 0 — Lisburn 0 0 — 2 1 50 Magherafelt 0 0 — 0 0 — Moyle 2 0 0 0 0 — Newtownabbey 0 0 — 1 1 100 North Down 1 o 0 1 0 0 Newry and Mourne 3 0 0 0 0 — Omagh 0 0 — 1 0 0 Strabane 1 0 0 1 1 100 Missing 2 0 0 0 0 — Total 25 8 32 26 8 31
Prosecutions Convictions Percentage Convictions Prosecutions Convictions Percentage convictions Antrim 2 2 100 1 0 0 Ards 2 1 50 0 0 — Armagh 0 0 — 2 0 0 Banbridge 1 0 0 0 0 — Belfast East 0 0 — 0 0 — Belfast North 3 0 0 0 0 — Belfast South 4 3 75 1 1 100 Belfast West 1 0 0 1 0 0 Ballymena 2 1 50 2 1 50 Ballymoney 0 0 — 0 0 — Carrickfergus 0 0 — 1 0 0 Coleraine 2 2 100 0 0 — Cookstown 0 0 — 0 0 — Craigavon 1 1 100 2 0 0 Castlereagh 0 0 — 1 0 0 Dungannon and South Tyrone 0 0 — 0 0 — Down 0 0 — 0 0 — Fermanagh 0 0 — 0 0 — Foyle 4 4 100 1 0 0 Larne 0 0 — 1 0 0 Limavady 0 0 — 0 0 — Lisburn 1 0 0 2 0 0 Magherafelt 1 0 0 0 0 — Moyle 0 0 — 0 0 — Newtownabbey 1 1 100 3 1 33 North Down 0 0 — 1 0 0 Newry and Mourne 0 0 — 1 0 0 Omagh 1 0 0 0 0 — Strabane 1 0 0 1 1 100 Missing 2 0 0 0 0 — Total 29 15 52 21 4 19 1 Missing data relate to those offenders for whom DCU information is not available.