Rape prevention around the world

Rape is an enormous problem in all societies and seems to be worse in less developed countries and those with more patriarchal values

In many countries there are similar responses as in the UK: Attempting to reform the police and justice systems to encourage reporting and improve conviction rates. While a lot has been achieved (by Operation Soteria for example in the UK) these efforts will not fundamentally succeed alone. as the rule of law requires proof beyond reasonable doubt, and innocence until proven guilty. As most rapes are perpetrated in private by an assailant known to the survivor this is impossible to achieve. In nearly all cases perpetrators simply assert they had consent.

In many countries Rape Kits are being used by the Police and Sexual Assault Referral centres in the hope that they will encourage more survivors to come forward and make accusations, but this has not worked.

As a result there have been numerous efforts by activists to develop new approaches and some of those show real promise

1. Systematic Consent Education
   
   It has been demonstrated several times in different countries that systematic consent education in pupils aged 11-18 can lead to significant reductions in perpetration. Pupils need to receive about 5 hours of effective education to see this effect
   
   In the UK it is now law for all pupils to be taught this information, however the delivery of 5 hours education is not systematically being achieved. This should be made law.
   
   
2. Alternative reporting
   
   Many survivors are understandably reluctant to start lengthy criminal proceedings when the prospect of prosecutions is so low
   
   In many countries alternative reporting platforms that don’t immediately feed into the CJS have been tried. Many Universities in different countries have platforms like the UK’s “Report + Support” or the US’s “Callisto”, where students can anonymously report sexual assault and rape and choose whether to engage in internal disciplinary processes. These systems have not won the confidence of students because they can only lead to an ineffective University disciplinary process and because students mistrust the motivations of the University administrators. Very few students report to them, and University administrators privately acknowledge that they are basically a box ticking exercise.
   
   In Australia the police have an alternative anonymous reporting platform to try and increase reports. This has also failed partly because there is very little awareness, and partly because survivors do not trust the police.
   
   
3. Social Movements and Social Media
   
   Several times in recent years we have seen explosive social media campaigns highlighting the issue and calling out perpetrators and institutions, such as #MeToo, Everyones Invited in the UK, and Teach US Consent in Australia
   
   These campaigns have had enormous impact on awareness and in creating advocacy and pressure on institutions and governments to change; and many new laws have been instigated as a result. The campaigns were enormously powerful and very low cost
   
   However they have not been sustained or systematized, and they haven’t been able to close the loop and create genuine prevention
   
   
4. Self Collection of DNA
   
   After the invention of rape kits for the police and SARCs, many of those innovators saw that survivors were still reluctant to come forward, partly because of the invasive nature of the exhaustive forensic examination
   
   The Forensic scientists knew that it was perfectly possible to collect an uncontaminated sample from your own body, much as it is possible to do a home Covid or pregnancy test. As a result many have been developed and tried: In the US, Canada, Australia, Kenya and the Uk
   
   In some cases such as the US and the UK trials during Covid were stopped after the pandemic. However In Australia self collection is available by walking into an A&E department . In Canada a trial is starting in remote Northern areas supported by the Canadian police and Federal Government

How Enough builds on these experiences

Enough has carefully studied all of these experiments and in most cases had extensive discussions with those involved.

Enough aims to build on their learnings and combine them into a uniquely powerful system:

• Creating powerful pervasive low cost education through social media
• Establishing a genuinely trusted and well used reporting platform
• Creating real systematic risk for perpetrators using the power of social media
• Truly democratising DNA self collection, giving a kit to everyone that wants one without diverting from police or SARC