Women 'to blame for being raped'

A third of people believe a woman is partially or completely responsible for being raped if she has behaved flirtatiously, a survey suggests.

The Amnesty International poll of 1,000 people also found over 25% believe she is at least partly to blame if she has worn revealing clothing or been drunk.

... the Amnesty poll, carried out by ICM, found that most people in Britain had no idea how many women were raped every year in the UK or how few of the cases reported to police resulted in a conviction.

The number of recorded rapes of women in 2004/5 was 12,867 - up 4% on the year before - although police estimate that just 15% of rapes come to their attention. Only 6% of reported rapes result in a conviction.

Some number crunching:
estimated number of rapes = 85,780
Actual number of convictions: 772
% of convictions v's estimated number of rapes: 0.9%

Good odds ... if you are a rapist. A 99.1% chance of getting away with it.

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