Rejected petition Make Rape Prosecutions and Convictions a Priority in UK Law

Rape is a serious violent crime in England and Wales, only a small proportion of reported cases result in charge or prosecution.
Many survivors face :long delays, cases dropped without explanation, and a lack of faith in the justice system, fear, trauma, & previous experiences of being ignored.

More details

We call on the UK Government to:
Make rape investigations and prosecutions a clear priority for police & prosecutors
Improve charge & conviction rates through better forensic investigation, evidence handling, and specialist victim support
Review sentencing guidelines to ensure penalties reflect the severity and lifelong impact of rape
Ensure timely investigations and trials so survivors are not subjected to prolonged trauma
Invest to encourage reporting and reduce stigma around sexual violence

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.

We're not entirely clear what you are calling for that might not already be happening or just have happened recently:

CPS has made rape prosecutions a priority:
https://www.cps.gov.uk/publication/cps-annual-rape-scrutiny-report-october-2025

Sentencing guidelines were toughened in 2023
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sentencing-bill-2023/sentencing-bill-factsheet-serious-sexual-offences-sentencing-and-release-arrangements

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 17 January 2026
Get petition data (json format)

About petition data

The data shows the number of people who have signed the petition by country as well as in the constituency of each Member of Parliament. This data is available for all petitions on the site. It is not a list of people who have signed the petition. The only name that is shared on the site is that of the petition creator.