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Expert Witnesses rejected from giving evidence in rape trial reforms

It will be announced today that rape trial reforms will permit experts to present evidence to juries, detailing the psychological impact of rape, in a bid to dispel myths of the stereotypical victim and increase convictions. However, a proposal to allow the prosecution to use an expert witness to explain the complexities of rape has been rejected.



Solicitor general, Vera Baird will unveil the new guidelines, expected to clarify what is and is not admissible as evidence in court. Jurors will be informed that only a fraction of rape cases are committed by strangers and that ‘unusual behaviour’ such as delaying or missing out information are common psychological reactions that occur after a traumatic incident or from being in an abusive relationship. It is hoped that by telling the jury that an attack is not a woman’s fault if they are provocatively dressed or have been drinking, will change the jury’s expectation of the profile of a rape victim and increase the number of convictions made in England and Wales.



Planning the rape trial reforms has been a lengthy process. A group of judges, doctors and academics have been discussing exactly what information should be given in rape trials and how it can be delivered.

A range of options have been considered, including providing an information sheet for jurors or giving them information face-to-face by an expert or judge during his/her directions.



However, a proposal to allow the prosecution to introduce an expert witness to explain the complexities of rape cases has already been rejected. Baird has previously been dubious about briefing juries as the defence might then bring in their own Expert Witnesses and confuse the jury with conflicting opinions.



Dr Nicole Westmarland, chair of Rape Crisis (England and Wales) and lecturer in Criminal Justice at Durham University, has previously voiced her concern over trials becoming over-psychologised with more expert witnesses, worried that trials would get even longer and turn into “battles of the experts.”



Currently, just 5.7% of reported rapes in England and Wales result in a conviction. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform reported this Spring that so few cases end in a sentence because at present, any 'admission, error, discrepancy, error, delay in reporting, unbecoming or puzzling behaviour that the victim may exhibit before, during or after the alleged rape, will be used by the defence as a basis for questioning that person in order to make him or her appear unreliable and untruthful’. The report surmised that if experts are permitted to present evidence to the jury, there will be alternative explanations for these types of behaviour.

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