Law Weblog
Rape defendants not to be anonymous
Saturday 13 November 2010 at 1:08 pm | In News | 1 Comment
Rape defendants will not have their identity protected despite a government promise in May. It appears that there is not enough evidence to support a change in law.
Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said
“The coalition government made it clear from the outset that it would proceed with defendant anonymity in rape cases only if the evidence justifying it was clear and sound.”
Women’s groups say anonymity would deter victims of rape from coming forward and it would send a message to juries that the victim should not be believed.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour Party women’s minister, welcomed the decision and said the government should never have promised it.
The Sexual Offences Act 1976 allowed anonymity for rape defendants. In 1988 the act was repealed so that all defendants were treated the same.
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The flaw in the reasoning of those opposed to defendants’ anonymity is that the problem here is not FALSE allegations of rape, it’s UNPROVEN allegations of rape. A finding of “not guilty” is thus not tantamount to calling the complainant a liar – it simply means that the prosecution have not managed to prove their case beyond all reasonable doubt. And if they have not managed to do this then the defendant is entitled to be free of the stigma, which I would argue is even greater in cases of rape than of murder, thus necessitating a greater degree of protection.
The rhetoric exercised by some women’s groups in relation to this issue is also horrific at times, as they make emotional arguments about “protecting rapists” as if they already know for sure that these defendants are guilty. It’s this kind of knee-jerk reaction that makes anonymity for rape defendants all the more necessary. The criminal justice system exists to make punishment objective, even in the most severe and emotive of cases.
Comment by Tim — Tuesday 4 January 2011 2:25 pm #