Why victims don't report

[David Baxter]

Victim silence troubles sex-crimes investigators
CBC News
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Sex crime investigators from across the country have gathered in Calgary this week to try to understand why so few sexual assaults are reported.

Only about one in 10 sexual assaults are reported , according to Statistics Canada.

"Women don't report because we're not stupid. The conviction rate is five per cent. You are treated in an inhumane way." — Jane Doe

One of the speakers at the three-day training conference is "Jane Doe," the woman who successfully sued Toronto Police Services after she was sexually assaulted in 1986 in her apartment by a man dubbed the "balcony rapist." A Toronto judge ruled that police had used Doe and other women without their knowledge or consent to attract the sexual predator.

"Women don't report because we're not stupid," Doe, using a pseudonym, told CBC News. "The conviction rate is five per cent. You are treated in an inhumane way. You are demonized. Your past sexual history — all of your life — is held in a court room for public examination. Why would you report?"

Calgary police Staff Sgt. Curtis Olsen said getting survivors to talk, and then keep talking, is the biggest challenge for police.

"We certainly do take everyone seriously and do everything that we can to have that wrap-around support for the victim," he said.

Victim shouldn't feel doubted: chief
Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson said the key to change is creating an environment that makes victims feel comfortable. In Calgary, police work with victim support groups, the hospital and the Crown to create that kind of atmosphere, he said.

"Consequently we have devoted a large part of our training to recognize that one of the immediate things they have to do is provide that support — get the professionals involved right away — so that the victim doesn't feel any kind of second guessing," he said.

If victims don't feel comfortable coming forward, Hanson said, there are consequences.

"Often the victims are reluctant to come forward for a variety of reasons, and that allows predators to continue to go out there and create even more victims because they're relying on the fact that frequently it's not reported," he said.

Police are making a lot of progress in solving these types of crimes, he said, especially thanks to advancements in forensic science.

On the first day of the conference, being held in a downtown hotel, Calgary police announced charges in a four-year-old sexual-assault case. A DNA sample ordered after a man was convicted of sexual interference of a child near a southeast community centre provided the break in the case, investigators said.

The conference includes 220 investigators, front-line officers and staff from partner agencies in Western Canada, Ontario and Nova Scotia.

[Kadz]

another reason women don't report, is if it is a relative.!

[Jazzey]

Yes, unfortunately, victims who are raped by a relative face multi-layers to their victimization, I think. In the days following the rape, your thoughts turn to how you're going to explain this to family members, whether or not you'll be believed and, what traumatic effect the crime will have on all of them. So you never really get a chance to focus on yourself during those first few days.

In my experience, I was unlucky enough have other experiences which helped me to quiet it all up. First by a doctor who was so uncomfortable with the medical needs at that time (or at least with the topic of rape and worst yet, by a relative). That experience made me feel embarrassed to share that it was a family member. Then, a social worker who tried to bully me into reporting the crime. I was so scared at the time, that her strategy at the opposite effect - I shut down and stopped seeking help for myself in any capacity.

When you're a victim of such a crime, in my opinion, and in an ideal world, here's what would happen: First, doctors treating you would be knowledgeable about rape trauma and how to talk to and care for rape victims. Secondly, crisis workers would recognize that the immediate focus has to be on the victim: Is that person ok, do they have a sufficient support system around, if they don't what can be offered to them in those first few weeks.

A recent rape victim should never be told off the bat -you have to report, think of the other potential victims. Such comments, for me, helped to invalidate my own victimization. To remove the horror that I was feeling at the time or diminish it in some way. I was all of a sudden pushed into a role of 'hero' to other people before I even had time to grieve my own victimization, or feel that people even understood that grief and the pain that went with it. Those types of comments can come later, when the victim feels a little safer with those same professionals.

Finally, health care providers, who are in my opinion at the very front line of rape, have to know how to support that victim into obtaining the proper mental health care at that time. Even better, put them directly in contact with those resources. Instead of handing over a business card saying - think it over and give them a call when you're ready. Those same professionals have to be able to explain to the victim that his/her experience has consequences to it that need immediate care and offer viable and immediate supports to that victim. Any other method leaves that victim feeling alone and defenseless at a time when the thoughts are no longer clear, when both the body and the mind say 'run and hide'. I personally felt that it is not proper health care to leave it to the victim to reach out for her own support. It minimizes the impact of that crime and isolates the victim even further.

This is particularly true when you're dealing with a family member. At that time, you can't or don't want to reach out to your family. You need time to process everything. So with these types of victims, it's even more imperative that the proper supports be in place, in my opinion anyway.

I can certainly appreciate the police force's frustration with non-reporting. But this has to be a team effort with all of the players involved - doctors, crisis workers and the police force. While it's nice that they recognize that the professionals be involved from the beginning - what support are those professionals offering? Are they themselves properly trained in dealing with rape victims?...

[David Baxter]

Then, a social worker who tried to bully me into reporting the crime. I was so scared at the time, that her strategy at the opposite effect - I shut down and stopped seeking help for myself in any capacity.

...

A recent rape victim should never be told off the bat -you have to report, think of the other potential victims. Such comments, for me, helped to invalidate my own victimization. To remove the horror that I was feeling at the time or diminish it in some way. I was all of a sudden pushed into a role of 'hero' to other people before I even had time to grieve my own victimization, or feel that people even understood that grief and the pain that went with it. Those types of comments can come later, when the victim feels a little safer with those same professionals.

I totally agree. The first focus for any competent and ethical mental health practitioner should be on assisting the victim to cope with what has happened.

Yes, there is the necessity of collecting a "rape kit" soon after the incident in some cases, but even then it that can be done as part of a medical examination carried out for the benefit of the victim, without demanding a decision about reporting vs. nopnreporting on the spot.

[Fiver]

Not here in Michigan. If you go to the Emergency Room and tell them you were raped, they are mandated by law to do a rape kit and report it to police. The choice is removed from the victim of whether or not she wishes to report it. That's why I called my personal physician, told her on the phone what happened, and asked if she, being a private physician not associated with an ER, was legally required to report. She was not, but also did not have the capabilities of doing a rape kit. At the time that was fine by me because I also had no intention of reporting it. I just wanted my body fixed.

I was beaten and raped by my partner's step-father. When it's a family member, and that family member is loved by people who mean the world to you, it adds an entirely different dimension of guilt and "duty" to an already horrific situation.

[David Baxter]

Not here in Michigan. If you go to the Emergency Room and tell them you were raped, they are mandated by law to do a rape kit and report it to police. The choice is removed from the victim of whether or not she wishes to report it.

That definitely seems unfair to victims and yet another form of victimization: Once again, the victim's control and choice is violated.

Of course, beyond the rape kit, the victim can simply refuse to provide any more information, but that won't prevent her/him from being harrassed to prosecute.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to the police officers involved in such cases and the need for specialized training in victim sensitivity but that may be unrealistic for many communities...

[Jazzey]

I think, in Canada, if you go to an ER, they'll do the rape kit and the police is called immediately. While a different experience, my brother was attacked a while back. When we arrived at the ER, the police officers were already waiting. But, they ask you if you want to report the crime. Either way though, I'd feel a little overwhelmed if I'd had police officers show up in my room. I also went to a clinic versus the hospital.

[Fiver]

God, I want so badly right now to get worked up and outraged over the suckass system in place for victims of rape, but I just can't. Not right now. There comes a time when it becomes too exhausting, and I must choose which battles I will fight on a specific day. This is not the day for this battle, not for me.

It all becomes overwhelming. My anger, outrage, sadness, and fear have become emotions I must ration, lest I get pulled into the pit again.

I'm going to bed.

[Kadz]

thanks for your response.......i get confused when i think of my situation. because i was a sacrifice, my father did something to me 1 day, and he was shocked by his own actions, and i think once it was done he realized it was a big mistake............... i have suffered all my life in many ways for the episode. if i would have had the ability to report it, i guess the family would have been torn apart, the family might not have survived, there would have been suffering to do for that info being out there. but, i must admit over 20 years of silence was not great either...............

[Eye Stigmata]

Also....

Being completely disbelieved by police, being sent to the hospital to be probed at by unfeeling staff who take her clothing for evidence and refuse to give her anything other than a hospital robe to wear back home, being questioned by police almost as if she were the one who committed a crime, after reporting, being stalked by her rapist and receiving little help from police, being mocked or accused of lying by “friends”, neighbors and family, particularly if the rapist is a family member or someone well-liked in the community, and being threatened by the rapist and his friends.

In the meantime, the woman who has been raped serves a life sentence without parole. If she suffers silently and alone, without speaking to anyone about what has happened (or only in hushed whispers to trusted friends), she does not receive any further shaming or blaming by society. But if she speaks up, she is branded a whore, a liar, may lose her economic security, her home, her children, her friends, her church, and most other social support systems at a time when she is hurting and afraid. Furthermore, the “justice” system shows itself unwilling to protect her, rarely taking her reports of assault seriously, and fairly often releasing her attacker even when he admits he attacked her. If she has the misfortune of having the media get a hold of her story, not only will her close friends and neighbors turn on her, but strangers from all over the country willl examine every detail of her lifestyle and judge every move she made before, during and after her assault, almost always finding her behavior lacking in some way.

So.... perhaps a better question is, why would any woman ever report a rape?