False allegations or miscarriages of justice?

Letters, The Guardian, Monday 11 March 2013 20.59 GMT

Letters, The Guardian, Monday 11 March 2013 20.59 GMT

In 2009, Layla Ibrahim told police she had been the victim of a savage sexual assault. So why did she end up in jail?

Simon Hattenstone and Afua Hirsch
The Guardian, Friday 12 August 2011 23.02 BST

Layla Ibrahim: After initially seeming sympathetic, police then talked about inconsistencies in her evidence. Photograph: Courtesy Sandra Allen

Sara Ibrahim says that since the day her little sister Layla was sent to prison, her family has been faced with a simple choice: "Do we give up and just get on with our lives, or do we clear her name? And we've decided if it takes the rest of our lives, that's what we'll do – we'll clear her name."

Motion F26 ‘Tackling Violence Against Women’, 19 September 2011

We are glad that the Liberal Democrats are highlighting some important issues that Women Against Rape has been working on for a number of years. These issues are: the rights of rape survivors seeking asylum; an end to the criminalisation of children in prostitution; an end to the prosecution of rape victims accused of making a false allegation; and an end to the imprisonment of women for non-violent offences.

Specifically, we urge Conference to support Section 2 of Motion F26: ‘Protecting victims’. 
[See Lib Dem Motion F26 on p30 of the Conference Agenda]

Twenty-seven organisations, including rape crisis centres and women’s aid groups, have written to Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), alarmed by rising prosecutions of women for supposed false allegations of rape or domestic violence. They say that such prosecutions are not in the public interest and that they are deterring rape survivors from coming forward.

There are no official figures of how many women are prosecuted for allegedly making a false allegation of rape, but the media has reported about three prosecutions per month in 2010/2011 – an alarming rise compared to around one every two months in 2006/2007.

The organisations joined Women Against Rape in a common response to a CPS consultation on Interim Guidelines for prosecutors. In their letter, (read here) they state that:

This is a PDF file, you can open it using Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free from the internet

We strongly believe that the prosecution of women for alleged false allegations of rape is not in the public interest. This is because:
• It distracts from the true rape scandal that over 90% of rapists get away with it since 90% of rapes are never reported, up to 45% of reports are no-crimed, and the conviction rate for reported rape is 6.5%.

• It gives the misleading impression that false allegations are a major problem when they are in fact extremely rare.

• It deters rape survivors from coming forward. Survivors do a public service by reporting dangerous men so they can be stopped from raping again. This should be encouraged. But many women are now afraid to report in case they are disbelieved and sent to jail.

Urgent response to CPS consultation re prosecution of women for alleged for allegations of rape

Dear Friends

We met with Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), in February, and strongly objected to the number of victims wrongly accused of making a false allegation of rape and then prosecuted. We are working with some of them, including Gail Sherwood (sentenced to two years in prison), and Layla Ibrahim (serving a three year sentence) whose sister Sara Arthur was at the meeting.

Some reasons why Women Against Rape opposes prosecutions of women accused of making a false allegation of rape or sexual assault. Evidence given to the DPP, February 2011

1. Alleged false allegations have been a distraction: bungled rape investigations and prosecutions are the problem.