Hansard

I welcome the final report from the Scottish Law Commission and the commitment from the Scottish Government to bring about much-needed reform of the law on rape and sexual offences. Credit is also due to the previous Executive, which instigated the wide-reaching review in 2004, when some high-profile cases highlighted ambiguities in the Scottish legislation that needed to be tackled quickly.

The statistics on rape and sexual offences make grim reading and serve as a wake-up call to anyone in Scotland who may become complacent about justice, human rights and equality in our modern democracy. The battle has clearly not been won. Given the increased public awareness of the crime of rape, the emergence of victim support services, strong action from women's groups and legal changes to end discriminatory practices, people can be forgiven for having expected to see an increase in the reporting of rape accompanied by a rise in the number of prosecutions and convictions over the past few decades. However, that has been far from the case.

The number of reported rape offences has grown by 230 per cent over the past 20 years, but an increase in reporting has not led to a higher number of cases being prosecuted. Indeed, only approximately 10 per cent of rape reports make it to court—a figure that has been more or less constant over the same period—and the rate of convictions is decreasing. As has been mentioned, the current conviction rate in Scotland is only 3.9 per cent—an all-time low, and one of the lowest rates in Europe. The Scottish courts are clearly failing the victims of rape and other sexual offence crimes.

The proposed sexual offences bill will bring about necessary modernisation of rape and sexual offences legislation. Our country's law does not exist in a vacuum. Legislation on rape and sexual offences has developed in a cultural atmosphere of stereotypes, prejudices, misunderstandings and myths, and the proposed sexual offences bill is a positive step towards the provision of a clearer and more robust legal framework to deal with some of the issues.

I welcome the proposal to create statutory definitions of rape and consent, although questions remain about the detail of how the definitions will be implemented and whether there will be any loopholes. The introduction of a clearer and wider definition of rape and the definition of sexual assault as a crime that is no longer subsumed within the general assault law reflect changes in our thinking and understanding of those crimes. The Law Commission has also identified a shift in emphasis in the wrongfulness of rape from the historical position that it is an attack on a person's honour and value to the view that it is an infringement of a person's physical and sexual autonomy. I welcome those proposed changes to legislation as a reflection of more enlightened thinking. I also welcome the proposed abolition of redundant common-law offences, such as those that refer specifically to homosexuality, as an important modernising step to ensure that equality is enshrined in our law even if it is not yet enshrined in our society.

Although those developments are welcome, many contentious issues still need to be addressed, and I believe that improvements can be made to the proposed bill. Those improvements are vital, as I am far from convinced that the changes that have been proposed to date will be enough to improve significantly Scotland's dismal conviction rate for rape and other sexual offences. The need to re-examine the corroborative evidence that is required for rape cases must be considered. I was pleased to hear that the cabinet secretary has asked the Law Commission to conduct a review of the law of evidence in Scotland. As members have mentioned, that review is complex and controversial, and it will require difficult and far-reaching decisions to be made at its conclusion. Nonetheless, it is important that the issue is pursued.

It is difficult to provide corroborative evidence in cases of rape and other sexual offences and, as the Lord Advocate has restated, Scotland's law is among the most restrictive in the world in such cases. The victims of such crimes often fear that their accusations will be met with scepticism, and in Scotland that scepticism seems to be encoded in law through the need for corroboration. Any changes will, however, require careful consideration.

It is vital that we grasp the opportunity to improve the response of Scotland's judicial system to crimes of rape in other ways. Legislative changes in 2002 that were designed to curb the use of evidence relating to sexual history and character in sexual offence trials have proved to be counterproductive. The Sexual Offences (Procedure and Evidence) (Scotland) Act 2002 was passed with the best of intentions and was widely supported, but there seem to have been unforeseen consequences. As Margaret Smith has mentioned, sexual history evidence now seems to be introduced more frequently in the courts than ever before. Although further legislation in this area may not be the solution, I urge the cabinet secretary to carry out an urgent review into the matter, to determine whether the current legislation is the best way to tackle the problem. We must ensure that our courts do not continue to put women through such a distressing ordeal.

We must be mindful of the fact that changes to legislation are not enough. As Rape Crisis Network Europe confirms,

"legal reform and changes in the investigation and prosecution of rape have had little, if any, impact on convictions".

That is why it is important that work to update the law is accompanied by work to change the confused and prejudiced societal attitudes that remain towards rape and violence against women in all its forms. It is shocking to read that 26 per cent of Scots—men and women—who were surveyed only last year thought that a woman bore some responsibility for being raped if she wore revealing clothing or if she had been flirting. It also does not bode well that a 2005 survey of young people's attitudes found that one in five young men believes that women often provoke violence. I therefore welcome the Scottish Government's announcement of funding for Rape Crisis Scotland to develop a hard-hitting information campaign to tackle those ignorant and destructive attitudes.

The Scottish Government's proposals are a positive step in the right direction, but there is still a lot of work to be done to change public attitudes and secure justice for the victims of these devastating crimes.