Government adviser urges review of how England and Wales courts handle rape trials
The UK government's independent adviser on rape, Prof Katrin Hohl, has called for the courts in England and Wales to be examined, telling The Guardian that public attention on Russell Brand's conviction could be used to look at rape myths and jury directions in trials.
Brand was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison after being found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others. During his trial, his barrister, Ian Winter, said Brand's accusers had not resisted or screamed or even tried to leave. Barristers are the lawyers who argue cases in court.
Prof Hohl said the court system is being left behind, even though police forces and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS, the body that brings criminal prosecutions in England and Wales) have made significant progress under Operation Soteria, a programme covering how such cases are handled.
She has previously set out concerns about the point where cases reach trial. In a report published last month, she said sexual assault cases prepared under the new system face a "cliff edge" at trial, where they could encounter practices such as the use of rape myths by defence barristers. Rape myths are widely held false beliefs about rape and about how victims behave.
Prof Hohl has called for proper research into what barristers, judges and juries do during rape and sexual assault trials in England and Wales. She also suggested the government could use the public awareness created by the Brand case to examine rape myths and jury directions. Jury directions are the instructions a judge gives jurors on the law and on how to weigh the evidence.
The victims commissioner, Claire Waxman, whose role is to speak for victims of crime, has called for a new legal duty on judges to direct juries if rape myths have been raised during a trial.
