key links
This page provides details of how to contact us, key facts about the extent of reported rapes in England and Wales, a few articles about the history of the rape crisis movement and advice on how to set up a rape crisis centre. There is also a link to advice about funding.
How to set up a Rape Crisis Centre
"Did you know ... rape crisis services are confidential"
You can find us now on Facebook
This national Rape Crisis group was formed in 2006 and provides co-ordination for the rape crisis movement in England and Wales.
Co-ordinator: The co-ordinator can be contacted by email info@rapecrisis.org.uk or chris@rapecrisis.org.uk if you require further information.
Policy Officer: For Policy issues, please contact the Policy Officer (Angie Conroy) angie@sericc.org.uk.
(This post is funded by the Home Office and the Lankelly Chase Foundation).
"Did you know ... around 50,000 women each year will contact a rape crisis group"
In 2004/05 measuring offences changed because of the Sexual Offences Act. However, an examination of the statistical spreadsheet from the Home Office suggests that a total of the various reported offences of rape of a female (of whatever age) was 13,322. See our statistics page for more data.
Rape can happen to anyone. Young or old, Black or White, female or male. A 2004 Home Office study suggests there was an estimated 190,000 incidents of serious sexual assault and an estimated 47,000 female victims of rape (or attempted rape). Among men, 0.2 per cent were subject to any form of sexual assault.
Rape Crisis groups exist across the UK and Ireland to provide services for women and girls and will also provide information of support agencies for men (click here for services for men and see also the information provided by the Metropolitan police on male rape).
There are also a number of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) across England and details of these can be found on the Home Office website.
"Did you know ... rape crisis services have been in the UK since the 1970s"
The history or 'herstory' of the rape crisis movement in Wales and England stems from the 1970s but has been rarely documented during its lifetime. This is partly because the movement was never about justifying itself in print. The women who came together, in different parts of the country to provide services for other women, had enough to do keeping core services going in the face of funding crises and general lack of support from many local authorities, social and health services and police forces. However, providing an outline of where we came from provides a good platform to now look at where we are going and how we relate to the wider community of the criminal justice system ...
Remembering
the past but looking to the future - Jones & Westmarland
Opportunities and Obstacles: The Rape Crisis Federation
From 1996 to 2003 the rape crisis movement in England and Wales was
supported by a national organisation – The Rape Crisis Federation.
This article tells the story of its emergence, its feminist
principles, the impact it had at the national level, its links with
other feminist networks within the UK and in Ireland and its demise
following the withdrawal of state funding. In speaking out about the
responsibility of the state to take action against sexual violence
it forged a place for itself at the table of government and secured
state funding. Whilst not dismissing the evident benefits that state
funding can bring to women’s organisations, this paper offers a
timely critique, utilising the Rape Crisis Federation as a
contemporary example...
Jones, H. (2004)
The Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Vol 8.
Surviving Sexual Violence
This study, based on in-depth interviews with sixty women, was
published in 1987 and was the first book to cover women's experience
of a whole range of forms of sexual violence over their lifetimes.
Drawing on feminist theory, Liz Kelly used women's voices to develop
it further: conceptualizing the different forms of sexual violence
as a continuum; focusing on how women define their experiences and
how they develop strategies to resist; cope with, and survive sexual
violence.
Available from; the
Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit, £11.50 plus £1.00 p&p
Sexual Assault Referral Centres: developing good practice and
maximising potentials
Home Office Research Study 285.
This reports on the findings from the evaluation of a number of
projects, which were funded to support victims in the aftermath of
rape. This report focuses on the contribution of Sexual Assault
Referral Centres (SARCs), and provides an insight into the type of
services that support victims in the aftermath of a traumatic crime
such as rape. The findings are timely as many years after the
original SARC in Manchester was established, a number of new SARCs
have recently been established and several more are in the
development stage.
Available to view at the
Home Office website
how to set up a Rape Crisis Centre
Coming soon...