THE JUSTICE secretary for England and Wales has become embroiled in a major row over sentences for rape after appearing to suggest that “date rape” did not count as a serious offence, prompting calls from Labour leader Ed Miliband for his dismissal.
Kenneth Clarke took to the airwaves on yesterday morning in the face of a fierce reaction to the disclosure on Tuesday that he intended to increase the maximum discount for an early guilty plea for rapists from 33 per cent to 50 per cent.
Instead of calming the row, though, the justice secretary’s media appearances and explanations have only served to fuel the controversy.
A rape victim broke down in tears after confronting Mr Clarke when he appeared on BBC radio, telling him his sentence discount plan was a disaster.
During television interviews, Mr Clarke appeared to claim that campaigners had only singled out rape because it injected a degree of “sexual excitement” into the argument over discounts for early guilty pleas for all offences.
However, it was his statement that no one convicted of a “serious rape” would be released as quickly as those guilty of some “date rapes” that sparked a political furore as Mr Miliband challenged Prime Minister David Cameron over the matter in parliament.
Mr Miliband said: “The prime minister, when he leaves this chamber, should go and look at the comments of the justice secretary and then he should say to him very clearly the justice secretary should not be in his post at the end of today.”
Mr Cameron underlined the government’s commitment to increasing the rate of rape cases ending up in court and insisted the proposal to extend a reduction in sentence as a result of plea bargaining from one-third to half was merely out for consultation.
“We have not yet decided which offences it should apply to or how it should be brought in. This is a consultation,” he said.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the government regarded all rape as heinous and not tolerable. Mr Cameron believed Mr Clarke was a very good justice secretary, but had not known about his remarks in advance, she added.
Mr Clarke was not going to be sacked, Downing Street said, but he would have to clarify his remarks.
Asked by the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson, after Mr Miliband’s clash with Mr Cameron in the House of Commons, whether he was going to apologise, Mr Clarke said he did not say anything that was factually incorrect but claimed people were “spinning” his remarks.
“I think rape is a serious crime. Always gets a long sentence. It should do. I’m not proposing to reduce the penalty for rape in any way. The proposal I’m making, a discount for an early plea, applies to every criminal offence in the book. It has good reason for it.”
The rape victim who confronted Mr Clarke on the radio said his plans were “a disaster”.
She said she had fought the criminal justice system for 688 days, only for the rapist to have his sentence reduced for pleading guilty and then go on to commit another offence.
Mr Clarke, however, said an extra discount for an early guilty plea could avoid her being dragging through the further ordeal of a trial.
Mr Clarke said no one convicted of a “serious rape” would be released as quickly as those guilty of some date rapes.
Asked why rape sentences were, on average, only five years, he said: “That includes date rape, 17-year-olds having intercourse with 15-year-olds.
“A serious rape, with violence and an unwilling woman, the tariff is much longer than that. I don’t think many judges give five years for a forcible rape, frankly.”
Asked whether he thought date rape did not count as a “serious” offence, he said: “Date rape can be as serious as the worst rapes, but date rapes, in my very old experience of being in trials, vary extraordinarily one from another and in the end the judge has to decide on the circumstances.”
– (Guardian service)