January 29, 2018

Nationwide Survey on the Difficulties Survivors Face When Trying to Report

It takes tremendous courage to report rape and sexual assault to the police. 

Unfortunately, many survivors who report to police are met with hostility, victim-blaming, gender bias, racial bias, perceived immigration status bias, disbelief in the truth of their report, and inaction.  Their report is often not taken seriously and police departments overwhelming lack the necessary training to assist survivors and prevent re-victimization.  

In 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union, the City University of New York School of Law, and the University of Miami School of Law released, Responses from the Field: Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Policing, a nationwide survey of over 900 respondents addressing the issue of police interactions with survivors reporting sexual assault and intimate partner violence.  

Here are Some of the Statistics and Quotes from the Respondents: 

“An overwhelming majority of the respondents (88%) reported that police 'sometimes' or 'often' do not believe survivors or blamed survivors for the violence.” 

“Over 80% of respondents believed that police relations with marginalized communities influenced their clients’/members’ willingness to call the police.”

“When I train cadets at the police academy, many cadets make statements about how women lie about being sexually assaulted and how women should not drink so as to avoid sexual assault. Police officers make similar statements, and on specific cases complain that a victim was not sexually assaulted but had ‘regretful’ consensual sex and is now claiming it was rape.”

“My African-American clients seem to be treated worse by police. Police are more likely to suspect them of contributing to the violence or in some other way being at fault for what has happened. They also seem to take claims of black victims less seriously. My evidence is anecdotal, but police seem to take more of a ‘that’s the way it is in this community’ approach. The police seem to care less about black victims.”