DISPATCHES: RAPE IN THE CITY
In the wake of two recent, high-profile cases in which young women were brutally attacked and raped by groups of young men, Dispatches investigates gang rape in the UK. Journalist Sorious Samura investigates why such violent forms of assault – which he has always associated with war crimes – are now happening in Britain. Four young victims describe their traumatic experiences and the events leading up to them and the film features an interview with the parents of a victim of gang rape whose attackers have so far escaped conviction.
Monday 22 June 2009
8:00pm, Channel 4
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Any rational thinking human being known’s that any form of rape is wrong and inhuman. But this documentary is a disgrace for only highlighting the black young ignorant teenagers who live in estates. (After seeing the doc you should of called it ‘Why do black men/boys rape and how?) Totally ridiculous.
All involved should have looked at the social problems of all men and not 56mins of focus on the black community and 3 mins talking about a family in the north west of England. For the presenter to keep asking experts ˜Is gang rape a black problem?™ is wrong.
People making this documentary should produce facts and look for answers/deterrents to stop all people from thinking rape is ok and stop blaming music. The mindset of these people are the problem.
The reason the presenter focussed on young black males was due to the fact that a disproportionate number of rapes were carried out by young black males. The research by the presenter (btw black) showed that of 29 cases, from January 2006 to March 2009, a total of 92 young people were convicted of involvement in gang rape.Of those convicted, 66 were black or mixed race, 13 were white and the remainder were from other countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Surely it is therefore logical to find out why a minority carries out the majority of gang rapes. In looking at gang rapes in the inner city you woouldn’t want to ask a bunch of 60 year old white upper class men about their attitudes towards sex and it’s boundaries.
Below is some info from the channel 4 page relating to ‘Rape in the City’
Fortunately for us, the Metropolitan Police do keep a record of sorts. They told us that in the last year alone, a total of 108 people reported gang rapes, which they define as a rape involving ‘three or more perpetrators’. Using this definition, we then spent the next four months trying to track down as much information as we could about as many cases as we could, verifying our information with the Crown Courts, Court Reporters and barristers. In the absence of comprehensive records, this proved to be a painstaking exercise.
We looked at offences involving perpetrators aged 25 and under, and managed to track down 29 cases in which a total of 92 young people were convicted of involvement in gang rape. Of those convicted, 66 of them were black or mixed race, 13 were white and the remainder were from other countries including Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Of the cases we found, two thirds of gang rapes occurred in London. We do not know if these were the only cases – they are simply the ones we could find.
The stats also don’t make sense, why follow 29 cases in London out of a possible 108? (They getting paid for this programme right?)
Doesn’t anyone care about the overall truth? Also, rape is a social issue not a race, so it does not matter if presenter is black. Hopefully oneday things will change so no one will have to coment on such programmes.
This show was so wrong in so many ways!
usually i love dispatches for their unbiased commentary but this was a joke?
obviously the people who made the show are white, and i find it so annoying that they put a black presenter (as peter pointed out) to give the show more creditbility. people can now say, look, even black people say this. THIS IS WRONG.
The presenter is not from the uk, not from the areas where this is happening and so the fact he is black had no meaning to the show. He was as close to the situation as the 60 year old white upper class men that peter also talks about.
It is not a black issue and i find the way it being presented very very naieve, which any black person from the uk will tell you. to blindly quote statistics is silly. There are a disproportional number of black people in prison but doesnt necessarily mean that black people commit more crime. Also black people in the uk are not merely one group. most of the cases shown were in estates in inner city areas where more black people tend to be. there are groups of middle class black people not living in these areas which do not gang rape people and similarly groups of white and other minorities in these situations that do rape people.
therefore i feel that it is an issue with this inner city estate mentality where the issues lie and definatly not the black community.
Channel four needed to look at the reasons behind the numbers and not take them as face value.
I think its ridiculous the dismiss the issues entirely and make assumptions about the presenters/people who made the show and then accuse the show of making assumptions about the statistics. If you dont air issues then the get ignored.
It did unveil some frightening attitudes towards girls and practices among young teenagers. A larger preportion of black women have babies without support from their male partner, could this be the underlying issue?