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Candida

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

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If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We see prosecuting counsel's opening speech followed by a dramatic turn.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We examine what makes, or perhaps, what does not make for an effective closing in a rape case and what happens when defence counsel relies on the very rape myths the jury has just been warned against.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode concentrates on the cross-examination of Caitlin, the complainant in the case, who was heavily intoxicated at the time.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Different jurisdiction, but the same issues: rape myths; credibility; and the need to be sure.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While we don't and can't know how they reached their decision, Dr Candida Saunders grapples with the presumption of innocence, the burden and standard of proof as she reflects on how and why she came to the same conclusion as the jury, given the evidence and arguments in the case.

The question isn't whether she's right or wrong. Whether she's got to the truth. It's whether she's sure.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We see how defence advocacy works in practice: how these issues are probed, how ‘false memories’ are argued, how evidence like CCTV footage and cell-site data does not speak for itself, and the inferences juries may be asked to draw in cases where a complainant can’t remember.

This episode examines the messy and emotive reality of rape trials and the sometimes uncomfortable tension between fairness to the accused and compassion for the complainant.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this, the first of three episodes detailing criminal proceedings in Faruq's trial, the prosecution's case gets underway with opening speeches and the complainant's evidence in chief--her ABE video--and cross-examination.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the trial now reaches its final stages, we hear defence counsel's closing speech and judge's directions and route to verdict before the jury deliberates on its verdict.

The conclusion of Dean's case marks a turning point in the season, raising questions about what the rape trials we have seen so far might reveal about rape myths, evidence and proof, courtroom advocacy, and attrition in the criminal justice process more broadly.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We pick up where we left off in episode 5, with Anya about to undergo cross-examination. In contrast to the cross-examination of rape complainants in Tariq and Jerome's trials, Anya's experience in the witness box more closely aligns with what we might expect to see, given mainstream accounts of rape trials and the conduct of the defence.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As in previous episodes, Dean’s trial involves another rape case the mainstream narrative tells us shouldn’t succeed: an allegation of intimate partner relationship rape with no forensic evidence, no CCTV, and no eyewitnesses — just one person’s word against another’s.

In this, the first of three episodes covering Dean's trial, we hear the prosecution’s opening of the case and the start of the complainant’s evidence.

Part of Criminal Justice in Action: Rape on Trial, this episode continues the season’s mission to cut through myths and misconceptions about rape in the criminal justice system, and to show how the criminal process really works in practice.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As in Tariq's case, this trial, and the jury’s verdict, raise difficult questions for mainstream accounts of rape in the criminal process, the impact of rape myths and gender stereotypes on victim credibility, courtroom advocacy and the conduct of cross-examination, and how the criminal justice system actually works in these cases.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back in Crown Court for the trial of Jerome, accused of robbing five women and raping one. The complainants are sex workers, and the conduct of the trial — and its outcome — raise important questions about the prominence and impact of rape myths and gender stereotypes in rape trials, and how courtroom practice and jury decision-making are portrayed in the mainstream, public narrative about rape in the criminal process.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back in the public gallery of Crown Court for the final days of Tariq's trial for rape and false imprisonment in a case the conventional wisdom tells us shouldn't result in conviction: one person's word against another's; no forensic evidence; delayed report; young, black complainant; and a defendant claiming consent and an allegation motivated by shame and regret.

Will the jury's deliberations and assessment of the evidence be biased by rape myths and gender stereotypes? Or will the evidence satisfy jurors of Tariq's guilt?

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first of two introductory episodes taking us straight to the heart of this season's topic; the investigation and prosecution of rape and serious sexual offences in the criminal justice system in England and Wales.

We're in court for the trial of Tariq who is charged with rape and false imprisonment. It's a case that, according to the mainstream narrative, has little chance of resulting in convictions: one person's word against another's; no forensic evidence; no injuries; delayed report; young, black complainant; a defendant claiming consent and that the allegation was prompted by regret and embarrassment on the complainant's part.

Join me, Dr Candida Saunders, in the public gallery of a Crown Court somewhere in England & Wales to watch real proceedings in a real rape trial. Let's see for ourselves what really happens.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether you're a student of law, criminology, social sciences, criminal justice, psychology, gender studies or similar, undertaking policing studies or the Bar Practice Course, if you're a criminal justice practitioner or policy maker, or simply someone who is curious to gain a real-world understanding of how the criminal process deals with rape and sexual assault cases in practice, rather than in theory, Rape on Trial is for you.

Subscribe now to make sure you never miss an episode.

**Listener discretion is advised**

The broader research underpinning Rape on Trial is reported in our book, Doak et al, Cross-examination on Trial: Advocacy and Vulnerability in Criminal Trials (BUP 2025). The book examines cross-examination across the UK and Ireland drawing on trial observations, practitioner interviews, and a linguistic analysis of courtroom exchanges in light of recent reforms.

https://amzn.to/49oVqG2

This is an Amazon affiliate link, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, please visit our website https://criminaljusticeinaction.com for information about help and support.

Music: Hopeless Waltz by Alena Smirnova.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.