Overhaul of rape inquiries threatened by lack of courtroom awareness, says expert | Crown Prosecution Service
The government’s independent adviser on rape has warned that an overhaul of the way police investigate rape is being compromised by a lack of awareness in courtrooms in England and Wales.
Prof Katrin Hohl said legal experts were concerned that progress would stall or reverse if the rate of rape convictions fell significantly as a new approach to investigating cases known as Operation Soteria affected outdated practices in the courts.
Tuesday’s vote on the courts and tribunals bill could result in up to 65 Labor MPs not supporting measures that would remove the right to trial by jury in some cases. Ahead of the vote, justice secretary David Lammy launched a review into how courts deal with rape and sexual assault cases and promised that rape victims will be able to access independent legal advice from later this year.
Hohl said the future of the Soteria approach, which has significantly increased the number of rape charges brought by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), could be in jeopardy if cases fail in court. The process focuses on the suspect’s behavior rather than seeking intrusive background information about the victim. Conviction rate for adults fell a littleExperts suggest this is a result of the CPS moving towards more complex cases.
“The clear and ultimate risk is that there will come a point where Soteria investigations have less chance of conviction and the police and CPS can revert to the way things were,” Hohl said. “I think I would be concerned about the sustainability of the Soteria approach if we can’t get the courts to change.”
Operation Soteria was launched in 2021 following the last government rape review following a decline in the number of rape cases coming to court.
Under the changes, police officers are told to build cases based on suspects’ behavior rather than relying on scrutiny of the credibility of witnesses and to limit the amount of intrusive materials they request, including counseling notes and medical records.
But police face obstacles in courtrooms, Hohl said. “Anecdotally, we know that when officers enter the courtroom, they find that the judges and attorneys have never heard of Soteria,” he said.
The number of rape victims withdrawing from pretrial investigations has more than doubled between 2019 and 2024. The government made changes to the treatment of these people in an attempt to stop mass migration.
Under new measures promised in the Labor Party manifesto, rape victims will also be able to access independent legal advice from later this year, when the new national independent legal adviser (ILA) service goes live with initial funding of £6 million within two years, the Ministry of Justice said.
“Operation Soteria has already changed the way rape cases are investigated by putting the focus where it belongs: on the suspect,” Lammy said. “By engaging independent legal counsel and extending Soteria principles into the courtroom, we ensure victims have both the protection and support they deserve throughout the justice process.”
Ministers have introduced new laws since January that ban “bad character” evidence of a victim’s past sexual history or abuse. Home Office rules severely restricted police access to counseling notes for victims of rape and sexual assault and ended invasive “fishing expeditions” into their backgrounds.
Nogah Ofer of the Center for Women’s Justice said the organization has seen many cases stalled due to lack of understanding of the new approach.
At a recent hearing witnessed by CWJ, a police officer was cross-examined by a defense attorney about why he had not requested the victim’s personal records. The lawyer later told the jury that the case was not adequately investigated and his clients did not receive a fair trial. “The police are following the law and the new guidance, but as these are not reflected in the courts, we fear this is being used to undermine the investigative case,” he said. “This is already happening, but we are concerned that the situation will worsen as more Soteria cases occur.”
Hohl said the Soteria pilot in London, which is expected to report in the fall, will review the first tranche of cases to find out whether founding principles have been followed in court. Academics will review completed cases and observe live cases; Lawyers, police and CPS prosecutors will be interviewed and trained to present Soteria cases convincingly.
“I don’t think it will be easy to bring Soteria principles into the courtroom, but that’s why this pilot is so important,” Hohl said. “But I don’t think the police will fully return. [to the previous way of operating]because I think once you see the effect of Soteria, you cannot give up the lessons.”
