New report outlines low number of convictions for sexual violence cases

November 1, 2019
The Law Commission has proposed alternative ways to deal with sexual violence cases.

A new report by the Ministry of Justice reveals low numbers of offenders are being prosecuted and convicted for sexual violence cases.

The report, titled Attrition and progression: Reported sexual violence victimisations in the criminal justice system, analyses 23,739 sexual violence cases reported to police between July 2014 and June 2018.

The data showed that for every 100 sexual violence incidents reported to the police, only 31 made it to court, 11 resulted in a conviction and six in imprisonment.

Jan Logie, Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice, said in a statement today that for too long, too many people have faced barriers accessing New Zealand's justice system.

She says the figures are not good enough.

"This isn't good enough, and demonstrates the importance of our whole-of-Government approach to ending family violence and sexual violence. No single agency or department can fix this on their own. We have to work together, work differently and work across the whole justice system so every person harmed can get the resolution they need.

"This report does not make for happy reading, but it is crucial that we have good data to measure our progress against.

"We can already see positive results, with the changes police have made to the way they investigate sexual assaults reflected in a 34 per cent increase in the number of investigations resulting in court action just in the last year, and a substantial decrease in the proportion of victimisations not classed as a crime," Ms Logie said.

"But there is still a very long way to go. This Government is committed to making progress on these long-term challenges. We are improving court facilities, providing psycho-social support for complainants, the Solicitor-General has issued new prosecution guidelines, and later this year will introduce legislation to address long-standing issues with our sexual violence laws."

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