The Guardian’s Readers’ Editor Chris Elliott (no relation) has a piece up today where he attempts to ‘clarify’ the statistics on rape convictions – Open door: The fair use of facts on rape, which, from my reading of it, doesn’t really clarify anything.
Take this bit for instance about the 6.5% conviction rate figure :
“The reader said: “This is wrong on both counts. About 13% of reported rapes result in a conviction, not 6.5%, and you have in fact pointed out this mistake several times in your Corrections and clarifications column.”
Indeed that’s true says Elliott, the Guardian has corrected that figure in the past, but, he goes on to say:
“it is a little more complicated than that, as some work by my colleague Leslie Plommer nearly two years ago, which became a Guardian editorial guidance note, reveals: ” … the formulation that is correct, and should be our standard, is: ‘In England and Wales, about 13% of reported rapes end in a conviction.‘ We could elaborate: ‘That is, conviction on a range of charges from rape to lesser offences such as sexual assault and others.’ The body of evidence for the 13% is far from extensive, but … it is the finding of the most authoritative and up to date (2007) study commissioned by the Home Office on what the outcomes are for reported rapes … What about the 6.5% conviction rate we often cite: eg, Only 6.5% of reported rapes end in a conviction? Certainly we are free to use the 6.5% – but have to signal clearly that this represents a narrower body of convictions … those on the charge of rape itself.”
So basically what he’s saying is that the Guardian has in the past and will continue to ‘correct’ pieces that say that only 6.5% of reported rapes end in the rapist being convicted of rape, even though that statement is essentially true….
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