Violence against Women and Girls Crime report contents

Sexual offences (excluding rape) 13
The CPS is unable to record pre-charge data for sexual offences 14 .
11,995 defendants were prosecuted in 2015-16 for sexual offences, excluding rape; a rise of
22.5% from 9,789 in 2014-15; reaching the highest volume ever recorded.
Of those defendants where gender was recorded, 97.3% were male and 2.7% were female –
the VAWG data annex of the report provides a breakdown by gender, where possible.
The volume of convictions reached 9,351 – the highest volume ever recorded and a rise of
23.2% since 2014-15, equating to a conviction rate of 78%.
Forced marriage, honour-based violence and female genital
mutilation 15
Forced marriage
The CPS data on forced marriage (FM) includes all cases flagged as ‘forced marriage’ and not
just those related to the new forced marriage legislation introduced in 2014.
The volume of forced marriage referrals from the police rose to 90 in 2015-16 – from 82 in
2014-15.
57 (63.3% of these referrals) were charged, the highest volumes ever recorded and a rise
from 58.5% compared with 2014-15.
The volume of prosecutions completed in 2015-16 rose to 53 – a rise from 46 in 2014-15.
Of the defendants where gender was recorded, 81.1% were male and 18.9% female – the
VAWG data annex of this report provides further breakdown by gender, where available 16 .
60.4% of prosecutions were successful, a fall from 63.0% in 2014-15.
There were five prosecutions under the specific forced marriage offence in 2015-16 and six
for breach of a forced marriage protection order.
Details of partnership working, training and awareness-raising are provided in the VAWG
data annex of this report.
13 Sexual offences excluding rape may range from offences of non-consensual sexual touching to serious sexual
assaults.
14 CPS records do not include details of pre-charge decisions regarding sexual offences (excluding rape) and
therefore cannot provide data on police referrals or charged defendants.
15 The small number of cases indicates the need for caution in interpreting this data in relation to these
offences.
16 Recording of victim gender in forced marriage cases is not robust enough to report proportions, but the
volumes are outlined in the VAWG annex of this report.
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