Most sexual assaults are never pursued by police. Here’s how the system could change
Several states and territories have taken steps to improve – NSW and Victoria, for example, have introduced “affirmative consent” models that require people to communicate consent and take steps to ensure the other person is also consenting.
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But laws still vary across the country, and the impact of those recent reforms needs to be evaluated.
The commission said it wanted broad national consistency based on the best model of affirmative consent, but it recommended further inquiries to determine this, rather than specific legal changes for each jurisdiction.
Instead, the report focused on lifting other avenues for support and justice and reducing barriers to access. The Albanese government will spend $21 million to get started, and trial new non-legal services recommended by the commission, including justice system navigators.
Each navigator will be a trained support person who guides a victim or survivor through their chosen justice pathway, and advocates for them during interactions with police, prosecutors, the courts and other systems.
The government will also fund researchers to probe why women withdraw their police complaints and design an independent complaints mechanism under which women can ask to review why police decide not to pursue charges. States and territories have also been asked to review every sexual violence report that did not progress to charges in the past 12 to 18 months and publish their findings.
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Police have been singled out for mandatory education about sexual assault myths and misconceptions, along with prosecutors and defence lawyers. They should also have guidelines for minimum standards for dealing with sexual assault cases.
That’s because they work most closely with victims in the criminal justice system, meaning they should understand the latest evidence about the impact of trauma on memory, behavioural responses to sexual violence and the varied nature of sexual offending, including grooming and coercive control.
“Many people still hold incorrect beliefs about sexual violence and about how people who have experienced sexual violence behave. They can lead to unfair assumptions about the credibility and reliability of people who have experienced sexual violence,” the report said.
“Police are the ‘gateway’ to the criminal justice system, including general and specialist police. The levels of attrition for complainants of sexual violence at the police stage are unacceptably high.”
For other people who work on sexual violence cases – court staff, barristers, solicitors, and judicial officers – training is strongly encouraged.
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