Today is One Billion Rising protesting violence against women and rape, world-wide.

There have been a few infographics visualizing the remarkably low conviction rate for rape, compared to other crimes.

We wanted to go a step further and explore the many complex and sensitive reasons why this figure is so low.

Without these reasons, the explanations that circulate are convenient or political. The reality is much more complex.

» See the graphic.

We’ve focussed on the UK as an example. Partly because the crime data here is so good and the conviction rate so bad. This gives us a detailed insight into how rape is often dealt with by victims, police and the courts.

Many of the statistics are applicable to situations in other countries.

There’s also a lot of supplementary data and background information we wanted to share with you. http://bit.ly/UKRapeData

We hope this data and the graphic can help increase understanding of this terrible and complex crime.