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BBC Radio 4 - Law in Action

How often do juries convict defendants charged with rape in England and Wales?

BBC Radio 4 - Law in Action, How to Improve Rape Trials

For those of you following Dr Molly Bellamy’s three part series on sexual offences and the Criminal Justice System, you will find many of the themes explored in this programme, including hearing from Professor Leverick, who is interviewed in this magazine.

The Programme guide is:

Podcast | Global Institute for Women’s Leadership | King’s College London (kcl.ac.uk)

A Podcast of One's Own with Julia Gillard

The Global Institute for Women's Leadership podcast is hosted by Julia Gillard who holds a conversation with prominent female leaders or experts on gender equality and leadership. We’ve selected this one below where Julia Gillard talks to Annie Lennox. The programme outline sayscharacters but to how cultural change is occurring.

“In this episode, Julia is joined by music legend, humanitarian and activist, Annie Lennox. Hailed as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone, Annie has won more Brit Awards than any other female artist in history, sold over 80 million records worldwide as a solo artist and in Eurythmics with Dave Stewart and was named "the most successful female British artist in UK music history" by the Official Charts Company in June 2013. In 2011, Annie was awarded an OBE for her contribution towards combating HIV/AIDS as it affects women and children in Africa and in 2008, she founded the global women’s rights organisation, The Circle.” https://shows.acast.com/aa0a2fd3-48ef-4888-91fa-5f91d8f4949d /651fa27c71e7800011dd44b6

Claudia Goldin

The Harvard professor, Claudia Goldin, recently won the Nobel economics prize for work on gender pay gap. She is an American economic historian and labor economist and only the third woman to win the prestigious prize. It is in recognition of her groundbreaking work examining wage inequality between men and women.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Goldin’s research

“provided the first comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labour market participation through the centuries” to reveal “the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap”.

Claudia Goldin | Biography, Nobel Prize, & Facts | Britannica

“Conviction rates for rape trials are lower than those for other criminal trials, and the court experience can be intrusive and harrowing for survivors. The Law Commission of England and Wales (the independent body that advises the government on law reform), has just published a new consultation paper for how to change this. Criminal law commissioner Prof Penney Lewis, and before her Independent Sexual Violence Adviser Annabelle Edwards of Rape Crisis, speak about the reforms they'd like to see. The Scottish government's Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) bill also aims to improve rape trials. If passed, it would abolish the "not proven" option for acquittal, create specialist rape courts, and controversially establish the option of judgeonly, non-jury trials as a pilot scheme, as it's feared rape myths might influence some jurors. Fiona Leverick, professor of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Glasgow and Tony Lenehan KC, president of the Faculty of Advocates' Criminal Bar Association discuss the bill.”

FILM /VIDEO

THE PEASANTS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrniTv0jC4E&ab_ channel=TheScottishSun

This is adapted from Wladyslaw Reymont’s Nobel Prize-winning novel well-known in Poland. It is a historical drama concerning a rural community where a young girl has to marry an older, rich farmer, however, she is in love with his son.

It has received acolades for its techniques of an oil painting animation, used previously in Loving Vincent. The latter film was nominated for an Oscar and a box office success.

It was shown in the 2023 British Film Festival where the filmmakers, DK Welchman (Dorota Kobiela) appeared with her husband, Hugh Welchman. The music score is by a Polish MC, rapper, and music producer, Lukasz Rostkowski.

UK-Ireland release in mid-November, following the film’s Polish release on October 13 through Next Film.

At FMQs, Humza Yousaf was questioned by his own party over Juryless trials. SNP MSP Christine Grahame and Ivan McKee asked questions about the idea.. Ms Grahame said it could affect the accused rights under EU law, which is in the Scotland Act and Mr McKee said the report mentions jurlyless rape trials but also says this is a drastic action and attempts should be made to 'address problematic attitudes' instead.