Why don’t women report rape?
This is a frequent question directed at women when they talk about how a man raped or sexually abused them. People who ask this have no idea what women and girls go through when they report a rape.
In the US, only 16% of women and girls who have been raped report the assault to police. Note I say women and girls – this is because nearly half of all rape victims are under 18. That should tell you something right there. Half of all rape victims are children – when they have just been traumatized are you going to seriously expect a calm, cool rational response from them which is guaranteed to maximize the chances of convicting their assailant?
Add into this factoring of why women and girls don’t tell the realization that most rapes aree committed by someone they know. This means their family members: fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins. Their boyfriends, their husbands, their next door neighbors. A social shame factor becomes involved. If the man who has just committed the rape is someone on whom she is partially or fully economically dependent, this further complicates the issue.
But let’s say a man rapes a woman and despite it all she is able to remain calm, cool and collecting and when it is over, has a moment to think “What now?” And calling the police will definitely be a possibility that runs through her mind.
What happens to women who report rape?
Anecdotal stories I know include the following: 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. Famous rape cases show this drama being played out as well: William Kennedy Smith’s accuser having every mental problem she’s ever had analyzed in the press; Michael Tyson’s accuser being branded a liar while he received a fund-raising show of support from the black community, including the churches; the woman in the Duke rape case being called a slut, a liar, having her personal information published by a prominent columnist who called upon people to attack her in public; and so on.
For a more calm, rational look at statistics for those who demand it, here is what happens when a woman actually reports a rape:
54% of all reported cases are dismissed or acquitted – in other words, only 46% are convicted or enter plead guilty.
Of those convicted, only two-thirds will ever be sentenced to any term of imprisonment.
So, to review, out of 1,000 rapes, of the 160 women who brave the public mockery, disbelief and abuse she will recieve as a result of reporting the crime, only 86 will even get to see their rapist convicted of his crime, and 28 of those convicted rapists will walk out of the courtroom as free men. So out of every 1000 rapists, only 58 men who serve any jail time. If they plead guilty to avoid a jury trial (as 82% of rapists do), they receive, on average, half the prison sentence of someone who opts for a jury trial – about 11 years. However, as anyone who knows anything about the criminal justice system knows, being sentenced to 11 years does not mean you will spend 11 years in prison.
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 hashappened (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 to have the media get a hold of her story, not only will her close friends and neighbors turn on her viciously, 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?*
*Please note: I am not opposed to any woman reporting rape if that is what she feels is the best thing for her to do – I’m just being realistic as to why it is often not the best option, despite all the victim-blaming that is used against those women who choose to protect themselves by not reporting.
