The UK government announced the measure as the death of Sarah Everard and police's handling of a memorial vigil, where they tussled with mourners, fuelled a national debate over women's safety and criticism of police.
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A legal challenge against the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over its policy on prosecuting alleged rape and other serious sexual offices has been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
Women’s rights campaigners described the ruling as “deeply disappointing” and marking “another establishment betrayal of victims of violence against women and girls”.
The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) claimed a change in policy meant prosecutors became more risk-averse when deciding whether to charge alleged sexual offences between 2016 and 2018.
The group said it had moved away from a “merits-based approach” to an “unlawful predictive approach when deciding whether to charge”, which had given rise to “systemic illegality”.
First published on Mon 15 Mar 2021 08.26 EDT
A legal challenge to how rape is prosecuted has been dismissed by the court of appeal in what survivors say is a missed opportunity to put things right for women whose rape cases have been dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
The lord chief justice, Lord Burnett, said there was no change “of legal substance” in CPS policy after guidance on prosecuting rape was altered, precipitating a 60% fall in rape prosecutions over four years to a record low.
The case was brought by the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), a group of women’s charities, and the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), who said the decision was “deeply troubling” and have requested permission to appeal.