The Equality and human Rights Commission in Scotland welcomes the opportunity to respond the Scottish Government Consultation on the recommendations of the Scottish Law Commission’s (SLC) Report on Rape and Other Sexual Offences legislation.
At present Scottish law on rape and sexual offences is outdated and open for criticism as it lacks clarity, fails to protect women and impacts negatively on victim’s experiences of the criminal justice system.
This response will address the SLC’s key proposals focussing on sexual autonomy and consent, sexual assault and evidence. We believe that this review represents one of the most significant opportunities for many years to address the inadequacies of Scottish law on rape. Scotland has one of the lowest conviction rates for rape in Europe, 3.9% across Scotland, in some areas it is less than 1%. Over the past 20 years rape convictions have steadily fallen in Britain. From 1977-1981 conviction rate was 20% this dropped to 8% from 1993-1997 and to 6% from 1998 – 2001, an overall decline of 14%.
Download the full response here (Word 54kB)