Thursday, November 29, 2007

Bindelpalooza Part Two: Lunatics Running The Asylum

In her latest missive about rape (again) she urges the government to implement a publicity campaign to inform potential jurors about what rape is. However there is another snippet in the article that might explain why the conviction rate for reported rapes is so low:
I coordinated a scheme in West Yorkshire in conjunction with the CPS, to deliver specialist training to prosecutors in all aspects of sexual assault
I'm not being flippant, but I suspect that a lot of jurors harbour concerns that prosecutors are pursuing cases that should not go to court in order to advance political ideologies. When the CPS are send staff on training courses that are conducted by a cliched man hating feminist whose published work reveals that she more or less believes that any accusation should equal a conviction then that exemplifies those concerns. In fact Bindel has enthusiastically defended obviously malicious false accusers and appears to believe that no amount of evidence can prove that an accusation was false. In fact almost any description by her of a case that has featured in the news will invariably leave out any information that puts it into some kind of context. This isn't so bad for a newspaper columnist but for someone who has advised the CPS it is unacceptable. In a jury system, when the prosecution is suspected of not being interested in justice, the juries will be more reluctant to convict.

4 comments:

JuliaM said...

"In a jury system, when the prosecution is suspected of not being interested in justice, the juries will be more reluctant to convict."

Hence the pressing need to nobble, er, I mean, 'educate' the juries.

If that doesn't work, perhaps they will suggest doing away with them altogether!

JuliaM said...

Have just read the article itself, and noticed this comment:

"Baird went down extremely well with the prosecutors. She told them that in order to secure more convictions, they had to be at least as well equipped with all the facts of the case, and of the research around rape, as the defence."

So, the CPS regarded being 'at least as well equipped with all the facts of the case as the defence' as a novel trial-winning idea, did they....?

Now I think we see one good reason why the conviction rate is so low!

James Higham said...

...conducted by a cliched man hating feminist whose published work reveals that she more or less believes that any accusation should equal a conviction then that exemplifies those concerns...

Getting dangerous today. Cry rape - in the slammer.

Ross said...

"So, the CPS regarded being 'at least as well equipped with all the facts of the case as the defence' as a novel trial-winning idea, did they"

Who knows perhaps this "Knowing what you're doing" fad that they've unleashed will spread to other areas of government!