How many rape cases collapse after the defense claims 'sexomnia', despite Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concerns that rare medical conditions are being exploited I don't understand it.
The Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales previously issued a statement against sexomnia claims following a series of high-profile cases in which sex offender suspects were acquitted or investigations were dropped after sexual sleep disorders were raised. “We will firmly object to this,” he promised.
Some suspects charged with serial sexual assault and child abuse have argued that they could not be convicted because they were sleepwalking at the time of the crimes. Sleep experts say these claims can be difficult to disprove.
In one high-profile case, the CPS did not adequately challenge the defendant's claims that he had not raped the woman, that she was suffering from sexomnia and that he had willingly had sex with her while she was asleep. He apologized for what happened and paid compensation for the damages.
This Freedom of Information request reveals how many cases the CPS has dropped or refused to prosecute in the past five years since a sexomnia complaint was brought, despite promises to improve its handling of sexomnia complaints. It became clear that he did not.
It also does not know how many times the defense has been used in court or how many times it has been successful, and says it does not “record or collate data” on defenses for defendants or suspects.
CPS says all sexomnia claims have been “strongly interrogated” and suggests data collection on sexomnia is not necessary as it conducts “detailed investigations” of individual cases to identify learning opportunities did.
But Jade McCrossen-Nethercott, 32, who took legal action against the CPS after it dropped her rape case in 2020, said the lack of data collection was “ridiculous”. . “If records are not kept, how can we identify patterns, track abuse of this defense, and assess whether the reforms are actually working?” she asked.
Unusually, in her case, the defendant's defense team argued that she, not her assailant, was suffering from sexsomnia at the time of the alleged crime. CPS then sent her a “lessons learned” letter, promising that it had “taken steps” to prevent future mistakes. But Ms McCrossen-Nethercott said the lack of data collection “severely undermines” the pledge. “Victims deserve more than assurances of goodwill. Without data, CPS is essentially operating blind,” she said.
Sexomnia is recognized as a mental illness that causes sexual activity during non-REM sleep.
Their eyes may be open, but they have no consciousness or memory of their actions. If a jury accepts the defendant's argument that a person was in a state of “automatism,'' such as sexsomnia, at the time of the alleged crime, the person will be acquitted.
Although laboratory tests and your partner's history can be used to confirm whether a sexomnia claim is real, it is difficult to completely disprove it. Many people who successfully argued sexsomnia in court had no history of sleepwalking and had no formal diagnosis. Campaigners are calling for a minimum of clinical testing, interviewing bed partners and taking a medical history if symptoms develop.
in April observer The investigation identified 80 cases over the past 30 years in which defendants accused of rape, sexual assault, and child molestation claimed to have been sleepwalking or suffering from sexsomnia at the time, including 51 cases. There have been 10 cases in the past, and 8 cases were last year. This figure may be a significant underestimate as many cases do not reach the public domain.
Evidence was also discovered of law firms promoting so-called “sexsomnia defences” and boasting that charges were dropped as a result of pressure on the CPS behind the scenes.
Following the findings, sleep expert Dr Neil Stanley, who testified, warned that in some cases the defense was being used “cynically”. “I know deep down that there are cases where men who committed crimes got away with it,” he said.
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The CPS said it firmly disputes all allegations of sexomnia and pointed to three recent cases in which it had secured convictions.
Christopher Johnson, 40, was convicted of 16 sex crimes in June after a jury rejected his plea. In September, Connor Chambers, 31, who claimed to have sexsomnia, was found guilty of 19 sex crimes, including 11 counts of rape. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison and six years on licence. Another man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assaulting two university students in March.
The spokesperson said that in court, “the insanity automaton defense will be scrutinized in exactly the same way as any other defense,” adding, “Our prosecutors are constantly working to challenge the defense's claims. We will use the evidence available to us,” he added.
They added that the CPS had put safeguards in place for sexsomnia cases, including deferring the decision to drop a case to a senior official for approval. But when asked how many such referrals have been made, the company said it doesn't know and it would take too much time to check manually.
Victim Support called for reforms to the CPS's approach.
Michaela-Claire Addison, the charity's national sexual violence leader, said this was a new “rough sex” defense – an agreement in which victims are seriously injured or even killed during rough sex gone wrong. He warned that this could become a colloquial expression for a defense claim that the person did something. .
He said that as well as tracking the prevalence and outcomes of cases where sexomnia was brought, the CPS needed to monitor whether sexomnia occurred before or after a defense firm became involved.
She added: “It is vital that CPS collects data on sexsomnia cases so that we can identify and address this growing trend.”
