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COURT PROCEDURES IN RAPE CASES

EDM (Early Day Motion) 672A1: tabled on 24 February 1994

Tabled in the 1993-94 session.

This motion has been signed by 3 Members. It is an amendment to an existing motion.

As this motion is using historical data, we may not have the record of the original ordering, in which case signatories are listed alphabetically.

This is an amendment to an existing motion

This motion was originally tabled by Mildred Gordon on 23 February 1994. This is amendment number 1.

View details of the original motion

Suggested amendment

at end add 'and for complainers in such cases conducted in the High Court in Scotland.'.

Original motion text

That this House notes that a recent survey by the Channel 4 television programme Dispatches showed that acquaintance rape is just as violent as stranger rape but that four months' monitoring of rape cases at the Old Bailey showed that convictions in cases of acquaintance rape were only one-third of those in an equal number of cases of stranger rape; and considers that the fault lies in current court procedures and, in particular, judges' discretion to allow the defence to attempt to discredit the complainant by intrusive questioning about the complainant's life style, dress or sexual history and the absence of independent legal representation for complainants.

The first 6 Members who have signed to support the motion are the sponsors. The primary sponsor is generally the person who tabled the motion and has responsibility for it. The date shown is when the Member signed the motion.

There are no withdrawn signatures for this amendment.