Tuesday - November 10, 2009

KEYSTONE KOPS NOW BAN THE USE OF THE TERM, ‘GANG RAPE’ AS BEING TOO “EMOTIVE”

Well what can I add to this?  ??  ???  I’m thinking - I’m thinking. 

It is not a funny subject but it is hard not to make some sort of wise crack about how stupid it appears.  Instead of gang rape they want to use,
‘multi-perpetrator rapes’ instead.
I guess that’s what it is okay but it somehow doesn’t have the force of the other term. Would it make a difference to a jury?  And maybe instead of ivory tower “academic studies” the authorities should have done an in depth study among women and especially victims. Or maybe it makes no difference what they call it.  The guys who do it all need to be given a close shave with a dull razor or a pair of garden shears.

Scotland Yard has instructed officers not to use the phrase ‘gang rape’ to describe such crimes because it is too ‘emotive’ a term.

By Stephen Adams
Published: 7:00AM GMT 10 Nov 2009

Under new guidance, they have been told to refer to sex attacks that involve more than one culprit as ‘multi-perpetrator rapes’ instead.
The move has been criticised by the Plain English campaign as “politically correct nonsense”.
Almost six years ago Sir John Stevens, then the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, ignited a row by objecting to use of the term ‘gang rape’ in an article by The Daily Telegraph, choosing to refer to it as “group rape”.
Now the force has taken the decision that the phrase “multi-perpetrator rape” should be used as the “overarching term”, following academic research.

In his report ‘Multi-Perpetrator Rape and Youth Violence, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Yexley admitted that the “common parlance” for such attacks was “gang rape”. But he argued that did not mean it was the right phrase to use.
He wrote: “‘This is an emotive term – but it is used widely in the public domain.

“There have been instances in the past where the term ‘gang’ has come to mean different things – either groups known to each other, criminal networks or peer groups.”
His report, for the Metropolitan Police Authority, followed academic research into the “cultural context” of gang rape, commissioned by the that showed many instances of ‘gang rape’ did not involve gang members.

He continued: “When examining rapes committed by multiple perpetrators, it should be noted that the number of offenders involved and the methods used by assailants, vary.
“Analysis on such offending is primarily based on victim testimony and any other supporting evidence, so links to ‘gangs’ cannot necessarily be established.”

However, Chrissie Maher founder of the Plain English Campaign, said: “I am disgusted to my very bones and weep for the victims of gang rape.”
She added: “Jargon has been used to hide and confuse all sorts of things, that’s why Plain English Campaign was started. But using jargon clean up crime is the last thing I ever expected to see.

“Ask any victim – rape is an emotive crime – it deserves an emotive term not some sterile, politically correct nonsense.”
Others welcomed the move, saying gang rape had been used for too long as an inaccurate shorthand for a variety of attacks.
Dr Nicole Westmarland of Durham University, former chair of Rape Crisis and an academic expert on the issue, said many ‘gang’ rapes did not involve gangs at all.

But she thought the term ‘gang rape’ was still worth using when gangs were involved.
The police report also highlighted that there number of gang rapes in the capital is growing, that the age profile of victims is getting younger, and that a greater proportion of the victims are black.

There were 93 such crimes reported in 2008-9 compared to 71 in 2003-4. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of victims are now aged 19 or under, compared to 48 per cent in 1998-9. The proportion of black victims has also doubled over the last decade, from 17 to 34 per cent.
A Metropolitan police spokesman confirmed the report did amount to new guidance.

She said: “Recent academic studies have suggested that the term ‘Multiple Perpetrator Rape’ should be used as the overarching term for offences involving two or more perpetrators.”

TELEGRAPH

A LAST MINUTE ADDITION TO THE SUBJECT OF RAPE.

100 rapists are let off with a caution: The serious offences that never come to court

By Steve Doughty
Last updated at 10:22 AM on 10th November 2009

More than 100 rapists have been let off with a police caution, it was revealed yesterday. The 111 cases included 66 incidents of child rape.

The extent to which police forces have handed cautions to rapists, whose crime carries a maximum sentence of life in jail, was made public as Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced a full-scale review of the system of punishing crime with cautions and on-the-spot fines.

MORE ON THIS HERE

Posted by peiper     on 11/10/2009 at 07:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • UK •  
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