The Amnesty International report was described as "shocking" by the group's UK director, Kate Allen. "The government's policies on tackling rape are failing and failing badly," she said. Nearly 15% of respondents thought a woman would be partly responsible for being raped if she was known to have many sexual partners, and 8% totally responsible.
Men are marginally more likely to blame the victim than women, although in the case of drunkenness 5% of women thought a woman would be totally responsible if she were raped, compared to 3% of men.
Police recorded nearly 13,000 rapes last year, a figure thought to amount to only 15% of the true total since most rapes are never reported. The conviction rate for rape is 5.6% - the lowest ever recorded, with 741 cases resulting in conviction last year.
A study in 2002 found that one in 20 reports of rape led to conviction, compared to one in three in 1977. "There's pretty much a rape crisis in this country," said Amnesty spokesman Neil Durkin. "It's up to the government to change these attitudes, and look at to what extent they permeate the criminal justice system."
Ruth Hall, from the support group, Women Against Rape, said prejudices were ingrained in the way rape cases were examined."Let them worry about the awareness of the police, judges and the Crown Prosecution Service, and public awareness will change," she said.
A survey for the Association of Chief Police Officers released yesterday found that less than a quarter of police forces in England and Wales had dedicated rape investigation teams, although 85% were found to be meeting best practice standards for gathering evidence.
