Underreporting of rape and sexual assault in the United States

¶ … sexual assaults are reported, rapes would decrease.

Rape continues to be a complex and underreported crime in the Untied States even as the overall crime rates have declined in the recent years. While reporting a crime is the first step towards justice, the fact remains that the emotional and psychological trauma of a rape discourages most women from reporting. Though reporting a crime is important for law enforcement agencies, policy makers and victim service providers, whether it exerts a protective effect depends on the positive action taken on the complaints. If the law enforcement agency exhibits a lethargic attitude in dealing with rape cases, high reporting rates would fail to benefit the society. In the case of Louisiana, for instance, the negligent attitude of the police department clearly calls for a drastic change in policy stand. A more vigorous and victim friendly approach to crime solving is crucial for creating a protective effect and for discouraging potential criminals. Only with proactive policing and swift action heinous crimes like rape be controlled.

Introduction

Sexual violence against women continues to be a big problem in the U.S. One out of every six American women is a victim of attempted or completed rape. As per the statistics released by the U.S. Department of Justice's, every 2 minutes one woman is sexually assaulted in the country. The 2007 statistics for example indicate that more than 2,48,000 women were sexually assaulted and this number excludes the assaults against girls less than 12 years of age. [RAINN] The numbers for 2008 are 222,000 rapes or sexual assaults. Going by these statistics, it is estimated that in the U.S. atleast 18% of women experience rape or sexual assault during their lifetime. [OVW] The above national statistics are staggering.

In spite of the widespread nature of sexual assault crimes against women, it continues to be one of the most underreported crimes in America. One question that is baffling us all is why this disparity in reporting? Why the vast majority of the perpetrators of sexual crimes are not brought to justice? Also, there is vast disparity in the sexual crime rates against women between the different states within the U.S. In some states such as Louisiana there is a very high incidence of rapes and sexual assault against women. These discrepancies make rape one of the most complex crimes in the U.S. In 1995, the U.S. department of justice created a new component called the 'Office of violence against women' (OVW) to promote and finance policies and programs that are aimed at preventing violence against women. To stress the serious nature of this crisis of sexual violence against women, the OVW is celebrating the month of April as the 'Sexual Assault Awareness Month'. [OVW] A brief overview of the topic would provide more insight into this important social issue.

Rape: An Under reported and Violent crime

Rape continues to be one of the most widespread, underreported and violent crimes in the U.S. The national violence against Women survey defines rape as a "an event that occurred without the girl or woman's consent that involved the use of force or threat of force, and that involved sexual penetration of the victim's vagina, mouth, or rectum.." [Dean Kilpatrick, PhD, 2003] There are also other types of sexual assaults against women that cannot be defined as forcible rape. All forms of sexual assault include violence and use of force and domination and cause long-term psychological effects for the victim. Rape victims require immediate medical attention, and continued counseling services to enable them to cope up and overcome the trauma. Reporting the rape incident is also crucial from many perspectives. Firstly and most importantly, reporting the crime is the first step in getting justice. Secondly, having accurate information about the crime rates is important for law enforcement agencies, policy makers and victim service providers to help prevent the crime and in providing post rape care services.

Sexual Violence Prevention (A Louisiana Focus)

The high incidence of rapes in the state of Louisiana is a serious concern for the law enforcement agencies in the state. As the FBI data indicate, only one of ten women who were victimized by rape or attempted rape report the matter to the police. This poor rate of reporting rape crimes can be attributed to many different reasons. Firstly, the victim may not be willing to rethink the events of the trauma and would be more willing to move on with her life. Also, the disturbing fact that more than 80% of all rapes are committed by acquaintances implies that these incidences largely remain unreported. [Community Counseling and Crisis Center] People may just be unwilling to file criminal cases if a family member is the perpetrator of the crime.

In 2008 the FBI reported that incidence of rapes is at a 20-year low at 89,000. The development of DNA identification technology may in fact be ascribed to the reduction in the number of rape crimes. The fact remains that while the overall rape rates may have gone down the number of arrests remains static at 30% of the reported cases. This is roughly the same figure as it was two decades ago. However, in some states such as Louisiana, Maryland, etc., the incidence of rape has remained high and comparably much higher than the national average. There are increasing complaints about the lackadaisical attitude of the police with respect to rape case investigations. In many police stations across the country the 'rape kits' that are used to gather physical evidence for the rape remain neglected. Testing the rape kit helps in strengthening evidence against the perpetrator and in expediting the investigation. For instance in New York the number of arrests for rapes increased from 40% to as much as 70% when the police started using the rape kits in 2003. However, as a recent report from the 'Human Rights Watch', an organization that works for the rape victims suggests, police do not actively pursue sexual assault investigations. In fact, 12,500 rape kits, which are to be tested, remain frozen with the Los Angeles county police department. The report also cited similar negligence across the nation with the Detroit police and the Houston police department storage facilities having a backlog of 10,000 and 4000 untested 'rape kits' respectively. [Sarah Tofte, 2009]

A separate research by CBS found that Louisiana is really worse off. The report showed that Louisiana has untested rape kits from 2001. As Sarah Tofte, the human rights watch research director says, " It's absolutely astounding. What's the point of sending a rape kit to a crime lab for testing if you can't get to it for say, eight years?" [Armen Keteyian, Nov 2009] The problem with such a negligent attitude is that it actually encourages the criminal to commit more such offenses. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who co sponsored the federal legislation that allocated more than a quarter billion dollars for clearing the 'rape kit' backlog expresses his indignation at the lethargic attitude of the police force and the crime labs involved in rape investigations. With studies suggesting that more than 70% of the accused rapists are repeat offenders, the problem of such inactivity among the rape investigators is that it leads more offences and more women at risk. [Armen Keteyian, Nov 2009]

When a rape victim gathers the strength to subject herself to invasive DNA evidence collection process, it is totally shocking that police department has such a careless attitude. Rape prevention strategies and policy measures that try to reduce sexual assault crime in Louisiana should insist and demand swift action in all reported cases of sexual assault crime. If such a Victim friendly environment where the culprit is swiftly brought to justice is lacking, then all measures to increase reporting of sexual offenses would be clearly failing. There is little respite for the victim in reporting a crime when the concerned officials or the department lack the energy to vigorously pursue the case. Even in the minority of cases where rape is officially reported it tends to be a protracted affair offering no justice and peace of mind to the victim.

Conclusion

Rape continues to be a complex and underreported crime even in the Untied States where women enjoy equal rights and freedom. While reporting a crime is the first step towards justice the fact remains that the emotional and psychological trauma of a rape discourages most women from reporting the crime. Also the fact that in more than 80% of the rape cases the perpetrators are known to the victim affects legal pursuit. The question then remains if reporting instances of sexual assault lead to decreased rapes in future? While reporting a crime is important for law enforcement agencies, policy makers and victim service providers to help prevent the crime and in providing post rape care services, whether it exerts a protective effect depends on the positive action taken on the complaints. If, as we discussed earlier, the law enforcement agency exhibits a lethargic attitude in dealing with rape cases high reporting rates would fail to benefit the society. In the case of Louisiana, for instance, the negligent attitude of the police department clearly calls for a drastic change in policy stand. A more vigorous and victim friendly approach to crime solving is crucial for creating a protective effect and for discouraging potential criminals. Only with proactive policing and swift action heinous crimes like rape be controlled.