Women minister's crusade to jail more rapists

London: Harriet Harman on Tuesday launched a sweeping review designed to increase the number of men found guilty of rape.

The women and equality minister declared that rapists "are getting away with it time and time again".

To lead her review of rape and the criminal justice system she has chosen a human rights campaigner who has backed the idea of setting targets for numbers of men brought to court on rape charges.

Baroness Stern, a veteran prison reform activist, took part in an enquiry by a feminist pressure group which also said police and prosecuting lawyers should be retrained to "change attitudes". Harman's review of rape complaints was to have been announced six weeks ago when she was in charge of the government while Prime Minister Gordon Brown was on holiday.

But it was held back, apparently because of protests by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.

Renewal of hostilities

The launch of the review means a renewal of hostilities between the government and the judiciary.

Senior judges have been deeply wary of ministerial attempts to ratchet up numbers of rape convictions and have rejected a number of initiatives they have seen as attempts to sway juries or introduce unfair rules.

Harman said that the enquiry would cover how rape complaints are handled from when they are made until the court reaches a verdict.

It is also intended to examine "professionals" attitudes to rape; ensure that more cases progress further through the criminal justice system, and "fairly increase conviction rates".

The minister said: "Convictions for rape have increased 50 per cent since 1997, but with less than seven per cent of reported rapes leading to a successful prosecution we clearly must do more.

"Many more women are reporting rapes, but the Reid and Worboys cases show that despite this, these men were getting away with it time and time again.

"We must have a systematic examination of the way rape complaints are handled.

"The Stern Review will help identify good practice and where those failures are happening so that we can take action."

The cases of John Worboys, a taxi driver who was convicted of 12 attacks on women and may have committed more than 100, and Kirk Reid, suspected of 71 offences, have raised questions about the effectiveness of police investigations into attacks on women.

But the controversy over rape law has centred not on the handling of cases against men who attack women, but on those where women complain of rape by acquaintances.

Critics believe political pressure has driven prosecutors to bring rape charges against men whose behaviour is unlikely to be seen as rape by judges or juries. Earlier this year chef Peter Bacon was cleared of rape charges by a jury in just 45 minutes.