BBC Three Programme 'I am not a rapist' letter of complaint
Re: BBC documentary “I am not a Rapist” aired 10/09/2020
We are writing to express our concerns about a documentary aired on BBC in September, called I am Not a Rapist.
While false accusations do happen, the numbers of incidents are very rare, however the statistics used by the BBC in the documentary about the prevalence of false accusations made it appear to be common.
Throughout the show the following text appears on the screen: “At the lowest estimate, 1,500 men were falsely accused of rape in the last year”, also claiming “up to 8% - 80 every week – are false”, adding that “the real figure could be much higher”.
All of these numbers are gleaned from a 2005 Home Office report, which is incongruous in the light of the fact that other statistics used in the show – such as the numbers of rapes reported (from which the “80 per week” figure appears to be derived) – are more current and based on the most recently reported figures from ONS.
The issue here is that that 2005 Home Office report is not only 15 years out of date, it also reports a rate of false allegations far higher than any other statistical analysis done by Office for National Statistics and CPS.
Part of this is because the 2005 report relied on the numbers of allegations that police classified as false allegations, which may not be entirely reliable. Research shows that in cases where the complainant finds themselves unable or is unwilling to work with the police, makes inconsistent statements (perhaps due to trauma) or was under the influence of intoxicants at the time of the incident, police can erroneously classify these incidents as false allegations. The Home Office’s own research from the same year reports that “There is also a tendency to conflate false allegations with retractions and withdrawals, as if in all such cases no sexual assault occurred”[1] and says that “a culture of suspicion remains within the police”.[2]
Further, the 8% figure is so widely out of step with the accepted figure which, depending on the study, is consistently below 3% and as low as 1%. In 2013 the Press Complaints Commission upheld a complaint made by Rape Crisis England and Wales against the Daily Mail based on a claim that they made based on this study. Their judgement reads: “We are happy to clarify that this figure was mistakenly derived from a 2005 Home Office study which stated that police statistics claiming 8% of rape allegations were false, was in fact incorrect and that the figure of false allegations sits at around 3%. The most recent CPS study of false allegations gives a statistic of less than 1%.”[3]
As organisations campaigning for robust protection and support for victims as well as for better education around issues of consent and relationships, we are dismayed to see these inaccurate statistics used in a misleading way on a BBC documentary, which will have the effect of making it more difficult for victims to be believed and – should a complaint about the statistics used be upheld – reduce the impact of the stories contained within the documentary.
We call on the BBC to:
* clarify the reasons for choosing the 2005 Home Office Report as a source, when most studies contradict that figure
* clarify the reasons for the use of the phrase “the real figure could be much higher” when in fact all credible evidence shows the real figure to be much lower
* Retract the figures publicly and acknowledge the accurate figures
* Amend the show immediately, as it appears on iPlayer
* In the interests of balance, figures that capture the numbers of reports of rape, the numbers of convictions, and the falling rates of prosecutions and convictions should be included in this show.
Kind regards
Anne Mc Vicker
Chair of Raise Your Voice
Supported by;
Women’s Resource Development Agency
Women’s Support Network
Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network
Reclaim the Agenda
Rape Crisis Service NI
Rape Crisis Northern Ireland
Women’s Aid Federation NI
Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI)
Rape Crisis England & Wales
Mayo Rape Crisis Centre
Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
Ballybeen Women’s Centre
Chrysalis Women’s Centre, Craigavon
First Steps Women’s Centre, Dungannon
Footprints Women’s Centre
Greenway Women’s Centre, Belfast
Magherafelt Women’s Group Ltd
Strathfoyle Women's Activity Group Ltd
The Women’s Centre, Derry
Waterside Women’s Centre
Windsor Women’s Centre
Falls Women’s Centre
Shankill Women’s Centre
Kilcooley Women’s Centre
ATLAS Women’s Centre, Lisburn
Women’s Policy Group
Alliance for Choice
HEReNI
Belfast Feminist Network
Reclaim the Night
Northern Ireland Women’s European Platform
Belfast & District Trades Council
Unison Regional Women’s Committee
Unison Regional Secretary NI
Trademark Belfast
The Feminist Shop
Unite Women’s Committee
NI Women’s European Platform
Relationship Resilience
StalkingNI
NUS-USI
[1] Home Office Research Study 293 A gap or a chasm? Attrition in reported rape cases p.
[2] Ibid p.
[3] http://www.pcc.org.uk/case/resolved.html?article=ODc0NA==