Rape Crisis England and Wales said increased charging rates and access to specialist sexual violence support is vital, as recent data shows rape offences took police forces the longest time to investigate and charge.
North Yorkshire Police said rape crimes are “extremely complex” and on average take 14 months to fully investigate.
Home Office figures show there were 672 rape offences recorded by North Yorkshire Police in the year to March. Of them, 21 resulted in a charge or summons – accounting for just 3.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, the police force had an average charge and summons rate of 7.4 per cent across all offences.
Across England and Wales, 2.6 per cent of rape offences led to a charge or summons, while the overall charge rate for all recorded offences was 6.4 per cent.
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