Skip to content

Living in Limbo: Stop retraumatising survivors

Our criminal justice system is riddled with such bad delays and last-minute postponements that survivors seeking justice after rape and sexual violence are being forced to end the process – just to protect their mental health.

Victims and survivors tell us that they feel stuck in limbo while they wait – unable to move on from what happened or start to heal. They also say they feel forgotten about, like they're not a priority or that no one cares.

Those that stick with it have told us their experience of the system is worse than the abuse they endured.

We're calling on MPs to

Read the press release

Update - January 2026

At the end of September 2025 (Q3) there were 79,619 total cases outstanding (awaiting trial) in the Crown Court – a 26% increase in three years, and since the finalisation of Breaking Point.

Of these 79,619 cases:

  • 14,180 are sexual offence cases – a 77% increase since Q3 2022
  • 4,455 are adult rape cases – a 136% increase in three years
  • 1,874 are child rape cases – a 54% increase since Q3 2022.
Read the Living in Limbo report Read the Living in Limbo executive Read the Breaking Point report (2023)

How you can help end the retraumatisation of survivors

We urgently need the help of supporters like you to help change our broken justice system. Here's what you can do today.

  1. Email your MP
  2. Tweet with the hashtag #LivinginLimbo (don't forget to @ your local MP!)
  3. Sign up to our supporter newsletter
  4. Donate to support our vital work
surface-VDWS2oWdZzg-unsplash

Chronic overworking, shortages of staff and ineffective listings (a legal practice) have led to years-long waits for justice – with extremely severe knock-on effects for survivors' mental health.

What problems are survivors facing?

The number of sexual offence cases waiting to go to court right now is 13,238 - 66% higher compared to the number waiting at the same time in 2022 .

Here's how this impacts survivors.

The backlog means that one in three rape trials end up being postponed at least once. Some survivors face more than six trial postponements.

The average time a survivor will wait before their trial is heard in court is 499 days (compared to 284 for other crimes) - but for many, this wait will be much longer.

And every single delay can have a catastrophic impact. Many survivors find they become re-traumatised. Some will withdraw from the justice process completely. Others have even attempted to end their life as a result.

“The longer I waited for my trial meant that there was an increased risk of running into my abuser while I was out in my community, which happened in the summer.” - Matilda, survivor of sexual violence.

Matilda, survivor of sexual violence.

Survivor stories

Maria,* a young woman who was raped multiple times by a serial rapist, was forced to wait 3 years and 7 months for her case to go to trial. During this time, the trial was postponed twice.

After being told about one of these postponements, Maria heartbreakingly tried to take her own life. She spent five weeks in a specialist hospital in another part of the country and was left with life-changing physical injuries.

Her mother wasn't always informed about developments in the case – something that she says would have allowed her to better support Maria.

Charlotte*, an adult survivor of child rape and sexual abuse, experienced the trial for her case being postponed three times over the course of two years due to COVID-19 restrictions and barrister strikes. On one occasion, the trial was postponed on the day it was due to start.

She described to us the emotional rollercoaster that she experienced as a result of the delays – and how this severely impacted her mental health, as well as her relationships with her partner and children.

“Then the court date finally came; I thought, ‘This is it. Finally, I get to get it over with, and then I can try to heal from the trauma’. Thinking that I can finally heal properly instead of dragging it all back up, time and time again," she says.

"I spent weeks having panic attacks and not sleeping; I wasn’t eating; my whole life was falling apart again. But I was prepared to tell my side to the court so I could finally be heard. Then it got postponed again – I was told I had to wait a year."

*All names have been changed.

Read more stories in our Breaking Point report
Woman-window
A small bronze statue of Lady Justice holding up scales

How did our criminal justice system become this way?

To fix this problem, we need to understand how the system became so broken.

There are five key reasons the backlogs have become so severe.

  1. Years of overworking and poor working conditions has led to shortages of barristers
  2. A lack of judges for the same reasons above
  3. Poor court scheduling methods known as listing practices which see the listing of sexual offence trials as ‘floaters’ (not assigned a specific court room or date)
  4. Idle courts, where courtrooms go unused
  5. Ineffective and inefficient trials

"As one survivor of rape and sexual violence shared, “With each trial date delay, my sense of worth was decimated. Was my trauma not ‘bad enough’? Maybe if he’d killed me, as I felt he would – then would the trial go ahead? There were no answers, and I was completely isolated.” Survivor

What can we do to fix things?

We cannot hope to reduce violence and abuse against women and girls unless our justice system is fit for purpose.

To restore our criminal justice system, we need to see serious investment in the Crown Court system overall and long-term financial support for specialised sexual abuse services.

But until then, we believe there are serious flaws within the criminal justice system which can be easily fixed to improve the experience of survivors.

We're calling for an end to the practice of 'floating trials' which is a primary cause of huge delays.

How to email your MP

Letting your MP know you want to see change is one of the most effective actions you can take – and it only takes two minutes with our template.

Survivors deserve dignity and respect and to know when they will have their day in court. 

Anyone who is the target of crime will feel the impact of court delays, but the consequences of the backlogs is particularly severe for survivors of sexual abuse and their families.

Help change the criminal justice system. Join our campaign  #LivingInLimbo

Email your MP now

Breaking Point

In 2023, we released a report on the re-traumatisation of rape and sexual abuse survivors in the Crown Court's backlog of cases – Breaking Point.

Since the release of this report, the situation has deteriorated even further, with cases now at record levels. On 25 September 2025, the number of sexual offences waiting to go to the Crown Court stood at 13,238 – yet another all-time high.

This is a 40% increase in two years.

The number of adult rape cases waiting to go to court stands at 4,086, which is 70% higher than two years ago. The result? Adult rape survivors are now waiting an average of 417 days between an offender being charged and the case being completed in the Crown Court – but we know many survivors will wait much longer.

Our campaign for justice continues with Living in Limbo.

Have you been affected by this issue?

Please know that you're not alone.

If you're a survivor who's reported what happened to the police – or are thinking about reporting – your local Rape Crisis centre may be able to support you through the criminal justice process.

We also have lots of other information and support that might help.

Find your local centre
A young woman sits in a chair while talking to an older woman who is a counsellor. The older woman is sat on a sofa next to the chair and is using a laptop on a table.

Find your nearest Rape Crisis centre

Our member Rape Crisis centres provide free, local support and services for victims and survivors of rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence.

Want to talk?

Contact our 24/7 Support Line for free emotional support.

Find out more