Petition Make false allegations of rape a crime with the same punishment as the crime

Ministers responded

This response was given on 9 December 2024

The act of rape is an abhorrent crime that causes significant physical and psychological harm. It is criminalised under Article 5 of the Sexual Offences (Jersey) Law 2018.

In cases where a false allegation of rape is made, this may have significant and detrimental impacts on both the wellbeing and the reputation of the individual who has been accused.

It is already a crime to falsely report a crime to the police in Jersey. In cases where there is evidence that a person has made a false allegation that a crime has been committed, they can be charged with the customary law offence of committing an act tending to effect public mischief, with the appropriate sentence decided by the court.

In addition, Article 30 of the States of Jersey Police Force Law 2012 provides for the offence of Wasting Police Time, with a maximum sentence of 6 months, if a person makes ‘a false report tending to show that an offence has been committed’.

There are no plans to create a specific offence for falsely reporting a rape or to increase the sentencing arrangements for existing offences that relate to false allegations.

It is important to acknowledge that there is a common misconception that false allegations of rape are commonplace, when in fact false allegations of rape are extremely rare. Data collected by the States of Jersey Police indicate that the false reporting rate for sexual offences during the period between 2018-2024 is 1.4%. Research from England and Wales also shows that the incidence of false rape allegations is extremely low as previous research from the Home Office has shown that up to approximately 3% of rape allegations could be false.

Discussions that focus on the issue of false rape allegations can divert attention away from the important conversations that need to be had around preventing sexual violence and supporting victim-survivors of sexual offences.

Victim-survivors of sexual violence already face a series of barriers to reporting the abuse they have experienced to the police. Many feel shame around what has happened, whereas others do not believe their allegation will be taken seriously. Some of the barriers to making a report are compounded by the fact we live in a small jurisdiction, where concerns around anonymity and privacy are exacerbated. We want to be clear that all reports of rape and other forms of sexual violence are and will be taken extremely seriously and victim-survivors will be believed.

It should be noted that, in cases where a defendant has been accused of committing a rape, this crime is subject to the highest level of evidential burden. What this means is that the prosecution must prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant had committed this crime.

There are cases where a victim might report a rape, the police investigate the crime and are not able to gather enough evidence to charge a suspect. This does not mean that the person that reported the rape has falsely made a malicious claim against the alleged perpetrator. What it means is that there is simply not enough evidence in the case for there to be a reasonable chance of a conviction.