I could happily rip Kenneth Clarke limb from limb

By Anon

Kenneth Clarke says he wants to see rapists who confess early to have their sentences halved. He thinks this will increase conviction rates. What nonsense. Rape conviction rates are just 6%. Rapists effectively already have a ‘get out jail free’ card. Why would anyone confess for a shorter sentence when they have a 94% chance of walking away free?

A lot of today’s media attention is on Clarke’s comments about non-serious rape. All rape is “serious rape”. It’s serious because it’s the most personal of violations and any person who has experienced rape knows that it’s something which haunts you for the rest of your life. Clarke’s cruel comments on Radio 5 Live today show how little he understands those who have survived rape. His comments about “classic rape” being a stranger rape are out of touch with the reality that most rapes are committed by someone known to the victim.

Normally I’d blog for LabourList under my own name, but on this topic I’m hiding behind anonymity – because 7 years on after I was raped I’m still scared. I’m scared of what people will think of me and I’m ashamed of what happened. Like so many women and men who experience rape I reported the crime to the police, yet the Crown Prosecution Service did not believe there was enough evidence. We have a long, long way to go if we want to see justice for rape survivors as I blogged last year on the Sterne Review’s recommendations.

As for Kenneth Clarke, I could happily rip him limb from limb for his comments today. The woman who phoned into the radio station wasn’t the only woman he has left reduced to tears today. Thousands of women in the UK already feel let down by our inadequate laws on rape, and now we feel like the Justice Secretary has spat in our faces. If David Cameron has any political sense, and any sense of humanity, he will show Kenneth Clarke the door.