In a significant first, rape victims in the United Kingdom could now have government-funded lawyers to stop police prying into their sexual history and checking their phones under the new proposed law.
The Victims Commissioner for England and Wales has proposed the new law called Victims’ Law to ensure women have ‘a lawyer on their side’ when they report a sexual assault.
Dame Vera Baird, the commissioner, argued that the women should have access to the aid-funded solicitor so that they could challenge any unreasonable demands, such as the need to download their entire mobile phone contents and snoop through emails and internet search.
The lawyers will also help present their case in a fitting manner at the police station and boost the woeful conviction rates, besides protecting their privacy and stopping ‘excessive personal information requests.’
Dame Vera Baird, the commissioner, argued that the women should have access to the aid-funded legal solicitors so that they could challenge any unreasonable demands, such as the need to download their entire mobile phone contents and snoop through emails and the internet search.
The lawyers will also help present their case in a fitting manner at the police station and boost the woeful conviction rates, besides protecting their privacy and stopping ‘excessive personal information requests’.
This may include warding off intrusive bids by officers to delve through rape victims’ health records or inappropriate questions about their sexual history and what they were wearing at the time of the attack.
Commenting on the development, she said:
“There is a lawyer on their side, that means the police watch their Ps and Qs and in particular the arguments around how much material she has to disclose and whether it is fair to put in previous sexual history.”
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