2007 03: Solving crime: Still a long way to go

NST online. Letters. 27/03/07

By : LOH CHENG KOOI, Executive directorWomen’s Centre for Change Penang

THE Women’s Centre for Change Penang (WCC) congratulates the police for surpassing Interpol targets in solving crimes.

According to Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee, police solved close to 90 per cent of the 4,458 rape and molestation cases reported last year and in 2005. However, we need to sound a note of caution. The definition of "solved" can be misleading.

As far as the police are concerned, what is considered solved includes instances where the accused is identified (regardless of whether he is being detained, still at large or has died), the accused is caught red-handed and there is solid evidence.

We, therefore, need to understand that "solved" does not mean that the perpetrator has been convicted.

We are undertaking a European Union-funded project looking at sexual crimes in Penang. Based on a preliminary analysis of 439 court cases of sexual crimes (including rape, incest and molestation), one third of the defendants pleaded guilty. Out of the two thirds who did not plead guilty, 12 were found guilty. That amounts to a four per cent conviction rate in contested cases and an overall conviction rate of 34 per cent.

For victims of sexual crimes, access to justice is not within easy reach. Firstly, many victims do not make reports for many reasons.

Secondly, only a small percentage will get to court even though the police have "solved" these cases.

Thirdly, of those "solved" cases which go to court, our study shows that the conviction rate is low.

The police are part of the bigger picture of the criminal justice system. How supportive agencies are to receiving reports, what resources are available for investigations, what influences decisions to prosecute and what happens in courtrooms will determine the dispensation of justice to the victims.