[Senate Hearing 111-891]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-891
RAPE IN THE UNITED STATES: THE CHRONIC FAILURE TO REPORT AND
INVESTIGATE RAPE CASES
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME AND DRUGS
of the
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
__________
Serial No. J-111-107
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
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20402-0001
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania JON KYL, Arizona
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois JOHN CORNYN, Texas
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota
Bruce A. Cohen, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Brian A. Benzcowski, Republican Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
EDWARD E. KAUFMAN, Delaware
Hannibal Kemerer, Democratic Chief Counsel
Walt Kuhn, Republican Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
----------
STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Page
Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont,
prepared statement............................................. 132
Specter, Hon. Arlen, a U.S. Senator from the State of
Pennsylvania................................................... 1
WITNESSES
Berkowitz, Scott, President and Founder, Rape, Abuse, and Incest
National Network (RAINN, Washington, DC........................ 28
Carbon, Susan B., Director, Office on Violence Against Women,
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC..................... 2
Dempsey, Michelle Madden, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova
University School of Law, Villanova, Pennsylvania.............. 32
Kilpatrick, Dean G., Distinguished University Professor, Vice
Chair for Education, Department of Psychiatry, Director,
National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center, Medical
University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina....... 26
Ramsey, Charles H., Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..................................... 14
Ravira, LaWanda, Director, National Council on Crime and
delinquency, Center for Girls and Young Women, Jacksonville,
Florida........................................................ 21
Reedy, Sara R., Bulter Pennsylvania.............................. 16
Smeal, Eleanor Cutri, Feminist Majority Foundation, Arlington,
Virginia....................................................... 30
Tracy Carol E., Women's Law Project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.. 12
Weil, Julie, Jupiter, Florida.................................... 18
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Responses of Susan B. Carbon to questions submitted by Senator
Specter........................................................ 37
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Berkowitz, Scott, President and Founder, Rape, Abuse, and Incest
National Network (RAINN, Washington, DC, statement............. 43
Carbon, Susan B., Director, Office on Violence Against Women,
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, statement.......... 55
Dempsey, Michelle Madden, Associate Professor of Law, Villanova
University School of Law, Villanova, Pennsylvania, statement
and attachment................................................. 67
Kilpatrick, Dean G., Distinguished University Professor, Vice
Chair for Education, Department of Psychiatry, Director,
National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center, Medical
University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina,
statement and attachment....................................... 82
Ramsey, Charles H., Commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, statement.......................... 133
Ravira, LaWanda, Director, National Council on Crime and
Delinquency, Center for Girls and Young Women, Jacksonville,
Florida, statement............................................. 136
Reedy, Sara R., Bulter Pennsylvania, statement................... 147
Rumburg, Delilah, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Coalition
Against Rape, National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Enola,
Pennsylvania, statement........................................ 227
Smeal, Eleanor Cutri, Feminist Majority Foundation, Arlington,
Virginia, statement............................................ 237
Tracy Carol E., Women's Law Project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
statement and attachment....................................... 245
Weil, Julie, Jupiter, Florida, statement......................... 267
RAPE IN THE UNITED STATES: THE CHRONIC FAILURE TO REPORT AND
INVESTIGATE RAPE CASES
----------
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:25 p.m., in
room SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Arlen
Specter, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Specter, Cardin, and Klobuchar.
Also Present: Senator Franken.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ARLEN SPECTER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM
THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA
Chairman Specter. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. The
Criminal Law Subcommittee will now proceed with the hearing on
the subject of rape.
This hearing has been requested by the Women's Law Project
following an extensive series of articles by newspapers in many
leading United States cities commenting about the inaccuracies
on reports of rape, raising serious questions as to whether
there are adequate steps being taken by police departments to
catalogue the complaints, to investigate them, and to make the
determination when rape, in fact, occurred.
The statistics are staggering. Over 20 million women, or 18
percent of all women in the United States, have been victims of
rape, and each year approximately 1,100,000 more women are
victims of rape. The statistics show that 28 percent of the
forcible rapes have victims under the age of 12, and 27 percent
of forcible rape victims are in the ages of 12 to 17.
Reportedly, only 18 percent of forcible rapes are reported to
the police.
When I took a look at these statistics, I wondered how they
were gathered and how accurate they were on a subject this
sensitive. And I am advised that the studies conducted in 1990
and the year 2005, the National Women's Study and the National
Women's Study Replication, are reliable statistics following
state-of-the-art survey techniques when interviewing women that
are markedly more sensitive and accurate than used in other
surveys, including the Government's National Crime
Victimization Survey.
There have been a series of articles in the major United
States newspapers: the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Baltimore
Sun, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the New York Times, the New
Orleans Times-Picayune, the Village Voice, and This American
Life on National Public Radio. The Philadelphia experience
showed that there were approximately one-third of all sex
crimes reported in Philadelphia which were not investigated by
the police, that there was an audit conducted, and it showed
that some 2,300 sexual assault cases had been incorrectly
handled. The Philadelphia Police Department changed their
approach to bring in women's advocacy groups to review the
files using transparency and requiring that, before a matter
was reported as unfounded, it be filed by two police officers.
As I have taken a look at these statistics, I found that
times have not changed very much since the days when I was an
assistant district attorney some years ago. And when I was
elected district attorney in 1965, I instituted a change in
procedures and established a special rape unit. At that time
rape complainants were interviewed in a regular detective room
where they had a series of a dozen or more desks. Witnesses
were interviewed within hearing range of many, many other
people, not very conducive to telling about an incident like
being the victim of a rape. And I changed that policy to have
interviews privately conducted.
At that time there were no photographs taken to preserve
evidence of trauma, no brushings on the issue of pubic hair,
and a great many changes were undertaken. And it looks to me
like it is still a big, big issue, so we are moving ahead with
this hearing this afternoon to focus public attention to see
what is going on and to see what changes ought to be made.
For starters, I note that the definition of rape which is
being used by the FBI is antiquated, not inclusive as where it
ought to be.
I will turn now to our first witness who is the Director of
the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women.
In this role, she serves as liaison between the Department and
Federal and State governments on crimes of domestic violence,
sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking. She likes to be
called director as opposed to judge, but she is the supervisory
judge of the New Hampshire Judicial Family Branch and has been
since 1996, a member of the Governor's Commission on Domestic
and Sexual Violence, and chaired New Hampshire's Domestic
Violence Fatality Review Committee; a graduate of the
University of Wisconsin and DePaul University College of law.
Welcome, Director Carbon. The floor is yours for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF HON. SUSAN B. CARBON, DIRECTOR, OFFICE ON VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Carbon. Good afternoon, Senator Specter. It is an honor
to be here this afternoon. I would like to thank you and I
would like to thank the Committee for conducting this hearing
today to draw attention to the dehumanizing issue of sexual
assault and how this dangerous crime is treated in our country.
As the Committee knows well, sexual assault is a complex
crime that affects every sector of our society. Children--girls
and boys--are molested by family members; college freshmen are
date raped; and the elderly are attacked in their homes. Sexual
assault knows no gender, geographic location, race, ethnicity,
sexual orientation. None of us is immune, but all of us are
responsible to end it.
The challenge that we face is to meet the needs of an
incredibly diverse population of victims while at the same time
prosecuting offenders for these heinous crimes. A fundamental
obstacle to addressing sexual assault is the reluctance to talk
about it. We are uncomfortable talking about incest or thinking
that our grandmothers could be raped. Myths and misconceptions
abound, not the least of which is that real rape is committed
only by strangers wielding weapons in dark alleys. To the
contrary, most victims know their attackers, no weapons are
used, and alcohol and drugs are frequently involved.
These misconceptions do not stop at the doors of the police
department, the prosecutor's office, or the courtroom. They
impact the way that all of us respond to sexual violence, and
this must be changed.
To bring justice for victims and accountability for
perpetrators, we must move the national conscience through
meaningful dialog. Today's hearing is a step in the right
direction, and we commend the U.S. Congress for its leadership
toward this moral imperative.
In my testimony today, I hope to provide a broader context
for the scope of sexual assault and our collective responses to
it.
First, it is difficult to quantify the crime. Studies use
different definitions of rape and different data collection
methods. Some include only forcible rape or only rape that is
reported to law enforcement.
Our terminology is confusing as well. Sometimes we talk
about rape, sometimes sexual assault, other times sexual
violence. That being said, researchers estimate that about 18
percent of women in the United States report having been raped
at some point in their lives.
For some populations, rapes or sexual violence are even
higher. Nearly one in three--and I repeat, nearly one in
three--American Indian or Alaska Native women will be sexually
assaulted in her lifetime.
Sexual assault is also one of the most underreported crimes
in America. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the
majority of rapes and sexual assaults of women and girls
between 1992 and 2000 were not reported to law enforcement.
Reasons for not reporting included fear of not being believed,
a lack of trust in the criminal justice system, fear of
retaliation or embarrassment, being too traumatized to report,
or self-blame and guilt.
Second, there are dramatic differences in the way that
police departments, prosecutors' offices, and even courts
respond to this crime across the country. Some communities have
highly trained, coordinated teams of primary and secondary
responders from health, law enforcement, legal, and victims
services sectors. However, as you are going to be hearing from
subsequent panels this afternoon, in other places victims are
subjected to humiliating interrogations and are treated with
suspicion by law enforcement. Collected evidence may sit for
months or even years without being analyzed. In some areas of
the country, there simply are no services.
It is a matter of absolute national integrity that we
improve the criminal justice response to sexual violence. But
let me be clear when I say so. We cannot simply focus on one
element of the criminal justice system, whether it be law
enforcement, prosecution, courts, or juries, and expect to fix
the problem. Instead, we must examine what about our system it
is that keeps victims from reporting these crimes.
When the Violence Against Women Act was passed 16 years
ago, sexual violence was included, but it took a back seat to
domestic violence. It is time that we devote the same intense
level of public awareness, services, and training to address
this insidious problem as we have with domestic violence.
Victims of sexual assault deserve no less.
With support from Congress, OVW is funding for its second
year the Sexual Assault Services Program, the first Federal
funding stream solely dedicated to providing direct services to
survivors of sexual assault. We have awareness and prevention
campaigns and programs on campuses across the country. We also
have law enforcement training programs, and we are working to
provide protocols and training for sexual assault nurse
examiners and training in tribal communities as well. We are
training advocates, prosecutors, and judges as well, but much
remains to be done.
When I started at OVW 5 months ago, I came with a list of
priorities that I hoped would be embraced by our office and the
Department, and they have been. At the top of our list are
prevention and ending sexual violence. We are committed to
creating a culture where victims are safe to report the crime,
where they will be treated with respect by all those with whom
they come into contact, and where perpetrators will be held
accountable.
I want to thank the Committee for being at the forefront of
ensuring that the devastating crime of sexual assault receives
the serious attention that it deserves. Thank you for your time
this afternoon.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Carbon appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Well, thank you, Director Carbon.
When you talk about reasons for not reporting rape and you
comment that people are uncomfortable talking about rape, why
do you think that is so? In our society, where there is so much
generalized talk about sex and so much that is pervasive even
in the public media, why should that persist, people being
embarrassed to talk about this subject?
Ms. Carbon. You are absolutely right. The subject of sex is
talked about a lot, but the concept of sexual violence is not
discussed. People have a hard time understanding the nature of
sexual violence, and we have a tendency when we talk about it
to blame the victim for having caused it.
We have a culture in which in many respects we condone
violence, and women----
Chairman Specter. Pause for a moment on the issue of
concern by the victim that the victim would be charged with
having caused it. Why should that be the case?
Ms. Carbon. Let me share, if I may, a story that I recall
from my days in Wisconsin many years ago. There was a trial of
a young woman, 18 years old, on the college campus of the
University of Wisconsin at Madison, and she accused an
individual of raping her, and the trial ensued, and the judge--
the judge--accused the woman of inviting the rape because at
that time she was wearing a short skirt. And this judge, it
turns out, happened to be recalled, which is a very unusual
process. Many States do not even provide for it. But this judge
was recalled by the Wisconsin electorate because of their
outrage that the judge was blaming the victim for what she was
wearing.
That story has resonated with me ever since, and this is
probably 35 years ago. We tend to look at victims and hold them
responsible. Did they walk somewhere they should not have
walked? Did they have a drink at a bar? Did they go home with
somebody they should not have gone with? And we look at what
the victim did. We do not look at what the perpetrator did.
Chairman Specter. Let me move on to your comment about
concerns about prevention of sexual violence. That, of course,
is an entirely different phase from reporting and investigating
and prosecuting. What ideas would you have on the subject of
prevention?
Ms. Carbon. In my view, when I talk about sexual violence,
I talk about the trilogy, if you will: the need for prevention,
effective prevention; effective intervention when we provide
services; and then treatment. We have talked so much over time
about the appropriate services when we intervene in a crime,
but I think that it is time that we rewind that script and come
back to start preventing sexual violence so that we will
prevent victims from ever becoming victims.
We have a number of prevention programs through some of our
grants, through the Rural grant, for example----
Chairman Specter. Tell us about your ideas on how you
prevent sexual violence.
Ms. Carbon. I think we need a broad-based public awareness
and education campaign to begin with. I think we need to change
the cultural mores and the cultural values and our attitudes.
Chairman Specter. Awareness of what? People are aware of
what rape means, and people are aware that it is violent and
antisocial. So how do you prevent it?
Ms. Carbon. We prevent it by educating people about the
fact that rape is a crime and about sexual assault being a
crime. People get very confused with mixed messages that we
send when we look at the media, when we look at sports, when we
look at entertainment, and we see women in very degrading
roles. We assume then that women are inviting this when indeed
they are not.
Chairman Specter. In the limited time I have remaining, let
me move to another subject, and that is, the role of women's
organizations in checking on police practices. We are going to
hear from the Philadelphia Police Commissioner later that they
have programs of transparency, where women's groups come in and
review files to make an independent determination.
Now, there is nothing like oversight to have people on
their toes in the discharging of their official duties. How
would you fashion a program where a women's organization, which
we have in all of the big cities, many small towns, structure a
program of working with the police department and having women
take a look at the files to comment?
Ms. Carbon. I believe you soon will be hearing in more
detail from those organizations which are doing it this
afternoon. But I can relate from a perspective from a court
standpoint. I have not been privy to how they have actually run
the program with law enforcement. But by opening our records,
the principle of having open access to our files without
violating confidentiality is an important way that we as public
officials, whether we are in the court system or law
enforcement, can be held accountable for what we do. And by
reviewing the files, by assessing the testimony--not the
testimony but the evidence that is in the files to determine
whether there is a basis for prosecution is one good way.
Through all of the work that we do under the Violence
Against Women Act, we talk about a coordinated community
response. So anytime we can bring in partnerships to help
improve the work, bring in advocates to work with those
professionals, I think we get a better outcome and more safety
for victims.
Chairman Specter. The red light went on during your answer,
so I will turn now to Senator Cardin.
Senator Cardin. Well, first, Chairman Specter, I want to
thank you for holding this hearing. I think one of the most
important functions of our Committee is to oversee what is
happening on the enforcement of our laws. And, yes, while most
of the prosecutions and investigations for sexual assaults will
be done at the State and local level; it is important that the
Senate provide the oversight to make sure our laws are being
handled in an appropriate manner.
I am convinced that sexual assaults prosecutions are at a
much lower number than other criminal activities, and that we
are not doing an appropriate job nationwide on helping those
that are victimized in reporting the incident, investigating
it, and prosecuting it. And when you look at the numbers, there
is reason to be concerned.
In Baltimore, we had the highest rate of unfounded cases in
the Nation. Now, when you determine at the police level there
is an unfounded case, it generally means that you do not
believe the victim. And there is really no evidence to support
the numbers that we had in Baltimore.
The Baltimore Sun put a spotlight on this. As a result,
there was action and attention was paid, and all of a sudden,
the number of cases have gone up dramatically in Baltimore--not
because there are more cases, but because they are now treating
it the way it should be, at least starting to do that.
So I guess my question for you is: What are you doing in
order to try to see whether we can get accurate information
nationwide, that we have a common set of information as to the
number of cases that are being followed up, that there is
adequate training through local police to handle this, how you
are helping set up the response teams that are necessary to
help victims during these extremely difficult times, so that we
have a common set of numbers nationwide in order to be able to
set up the right programs here at the national level to assist
local law enforcement to help those who have been victimized
through sexual assaults, and to make sure those who are
perpetrators are held accountable?
Ms. Carbon. Those are great questions, and this is
obviously the subject of the hearing here today. We have at OVW
many different technical assistance providers and many training
programs for all of the various professions, but in particular
on law enforcement, we have a number of programs that are
designed to educate sort of both tiers, from the top down and
the bottom up. We have training programs for police chiefs
through the International Association of Chiefs of Police,
IACP. We have other programs through Ending Violence Against
Women and many other technical assistance providers that have
training curricula, whether it is online or live training, to
teach line officers about how to investigate cases and how to
report, understanding how to conduct interviews, understanding
how to clear cases.
One of the most important things we can do is to have a
common understanding around terminology, because different
States and different police departments define different crimes
in a different way. So I would urge that there be some common
terminology so that we can compare apples and apples and
oranges and oranges as we go through. That is one of the
challenges we have that it would be helpful to be addressed.
Senator Cardin. I think that is a recommendation we need to
take a very close look at, because I understand that in some
jurisdictions they might take a sexual assault and classify it
as just an aggravated assault. It may be at different levels,
and there one different definitions that are used, and that is
something we need to have a better understanding of. But what
concerns me is whether we have the numbers as to how police
departments record unfounded reports they do not follow up on.
Do you have any statistical information that could help us as
to whether certain jurisdictions are just dismissing out of
hand complaints that are being filed on a very arbitrary basis?
Do we have any information to be able to take a look at what is
happening? There are so many cases in which the police are
brought in and they are not even sent out to investigate. They
are not even sending cases over to a detective or to the
prosecutors; decisions are being made by the responding police
officer not to take it any further.
Now, in Baltimore, they are requiring reports to be filed,
so now we are at least getting second looks at these cases to
make sure that there is a follow-up. I am concerned that in
other areas of this Nation that they may not be hitting the
radar screen.
Ms. Carbon. There is research to suggest that the number of
truly unfounded cases is somewhere between 2 and 10 percent or
2 and 7 percent. So the number of truly unfounded is very
small. Some of the steps that they are taking in law
enforcement agencies around the country are to do what you are
suggesting, and that is, No. 1, that we document that there is
a report of every incident, instead of just holding the case
and not report anything. We found it very helpful to require
that law enforcement officers document the event, that they
report what has actually happened, and that they then have a
supervisor review the report to ensure that there either is
evidence to go forward or not, but what additional steps would
need to be taken.
So with those additional reporting requirements coupled
with much more intensive training, we are going to get a better
outcome. And kudos to the departments that are willing to do
this, because by doing so you are undoubtedly going to see a
rise in the numbers that are reported. There may not be a
difference in the crime rate because we are actually disclosing
what has been happening but has been hidden from public view.
Senator Cardin. Well, I agree with that. I think it is very
important. I think we have to have a common set of numbers. We
have to know what is happening. And unless there is a
consistent interpretation of these reports as to whether they
should be investigated and recommended for prosecution, then we
really do not have a good grip on what is happening nationwide.
Ms. Carbon. You are exactly right.
Senator Cardin. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Specter. Thank you, Senator Cardin.
Senator Franken.
Senator Franken. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for organizing
this very important hearing and for allowing me to attend. I am
not on the Subcommittee, but you opened it to every member of
the Judiciary Committee.
Director Carbon, I want to talk about rape kits. As you
mentioned in your written testimony, when Congress passed VAWA
in 1994, it tried to make sure that victims would not bear the
cost of the forensic exams that victims receive after an
assault or rape kits. The problem is that some jurisdictions
are still billing victims for the rape kits and leaving it to
the victims to get reimbursed by insurers or victims' funds,
and without objection, Mr. Chairman, I would like to add to the
record four articles from the National Center for Victims of
Crime, U.S. News and World Report, Pro Publica, and Human
Rights Watch that document this.
Chairman Specter. Without objection, they will be made a
part of the record.
[The information appears as a submission for the record.]
Senator Franken. But to me, the real problem is that this
practice is actually legal. Under Federal law, it is legal to
bill a victim for her rape kit, and the law just says that the
State needs to fully reimburse her. In the past, the Office of
Violence Against Women thought that it was a bad policy. An
FAQ, Frequently Asked Questions, that your office issued in
2007 says that the Office on Violence Against Women strongly
encourages States to not require victims to file a claim to
their insurers. It explains that when the States do this, they
may inadvertently inform a victim's family of an assault, or
spouse or children, when they get a statement from their
insurer in the mail.
Can you elaborate on this? Is it a good idea to allow
victims to be billed for their rape kits even if they get fully
reimbursed later?
Ms. Carbon. In my view, I think not. I would like to share
with you an amendment----
Senator Franken. I am glad to hear you say that.
Ms. Carbon. [continuing]. For the Committee's benefit. When
VAWA was reauthorized in 2005, in part to address that, there
was a concern that many victims may have been raped a long time
ago and they may not want that information shared. They may
have elected not to prosecute for whatever reason. But in 2005,
when the Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized, the
certification was changed to allow States to pay and use their
VAWA funds or their STOP funds to pay for the examination. But
that was conditioned on a couple of things, and one is that the
victim not be required to submit it to her insurance carrier
and that the examination be done by a trained professional.
Having a victim--the loophole is there which you identify.
We are doing training, and we have screened all of the
jurisdictions to ensure that they are in compliance with the
law; but that is not to say that we cannot do a better job or
that perhaps the statute could not be strengthened to prevent
any possible exposure for a victim. And even though the statute
has improved from 2005 over 2000, I think we are always looking
for ways to do the job better, and if there is a way that we
can protect victims better----
Senator Franken. You said it is sort of a loophole in the
law, but even the good part of the law is not followed. The law
says that victims should get a free rape kit or be totally
reimbursed for it.
Ms. Carbon. Correct.
Senator Franken. But, again, I have seen reports of victims
having to pay insurance deductibles for their rape exams or
paying what is left after a Crime Victims Fund, which I think
is what you are referring to, maxes out.
Here is one new clip from last May which, without
objection, I would also like to add to the record.
Chairman Specter. It will be made a part of the record,
without objection
[The information appears as a submission for the record.]
Senator Franken. The relevant part says, ``The police
department made one payment toward the single mother's
hospital''--this was a rape victim--''but when she submitted
the $1,847 worth of remaining bills to the Crime Victims Fund,
she received a denial letter telling her that law enforcement
should have paid.''
Director Carbon, enforcement of this law does fall under
the Department of Justice's jurisdiction. Can you assure me
that you will make sure that rape victims are not directly or
indirectly having to pay for their rape exams?
Ms. Carbon. I will absolutely look into that, Senator. They
should not have to pay for their exams--that is clear--under
their condition of receiving their STOP money.
Senator Franken. Thank you so much.
Ms. Carbon. Thank you.
Senator Franken. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Senator Franken.
Thank you very much, Director Carbon. We now move----
Senator Klobuchar. Senator Specter, hello. I just came in.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Specter. Welcome, Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Specter. The floor is yours.
Senator Klobuchar. I have been in the impeachment hearing,
and it is kind of nice to leave the State of Louisiana for a
little bit and come here, so thank you. All right. Thank you.
Chairman Specter. You have the floor.
Senator Klobuchar. And I do apologize. We have this very--
--
Senator Franken. We all love Louisiana, though.
Senator Klobuchar. Well, we do, but, you know, we have been
talking a lot about things that I did not know went on there,
so it is good to be here.
Ms. Carbon. It is nice to see you again. Thank you.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much. I know that you
have focused on that there has been progress made in addressing
this crime in metropolitan areas. I saw it myself as chief
prosecutor in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, 45
suburbs. Could you talk about what is going on in rural areas?
As I began to get out in my State and represent the entire
State, I saw this vast difference between the resources and the
knowledge and the tools that rural jurisdictions have compared
to metropolitan areas.
Ms. Carbon. Certainly. Thank you. Having just returned from
a trip to Alaska, I can talk to you about rural jurisdictions.
Senator Klobuchar. Senator Begich refers to his State as
``extreme rural.'' That is a different category.
Ms. Carbon. Just for your benefit, I had never appreciated
the extent to which it is so rural. Alaska is two and a half
times the size of Texas, half the population of New Hampshire,
about the population of Vermont. And so when you have most of
the State that is not accessible and parts of the State that
have no services at all, it truly is a desperate state of
affairs.
But in response to the more general question about rural
programs, there are many programs that we fund that provide
services in rural communities, and one is the Rural Sexual
Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking
Assistance Program, so that we can provide services that are
sexual assault specific services in those communities.
There is also a new program, a new demonstration program
which we are funding called the Sexual Assault Demonstration
Initiative that we are about to roll out in a couple weeks that
will be designed to provide enhanced services for dual
coalitions that have traditionally not been providing sexual
assault services but will provide enhanced services in rural
communities. And so there will be five sites around the country
funded for that.
In addition, we are looking to, as Vermont has, have
specialized sexual assault units in the local police
departments, and these are very effective tools so that we
train local agencies to be able to respond to sexual assault
cases, giving them the enhanced training and understanding how
to inquire of victims in the way that Senator Specter was
speaking of earlier, the need to be sensitive to victims and
not put them in a position where they are going to then feel as
though they have assumed responsibility for the crime.
So this kind of training that we do as well, through our
Rural Programs, our STOP Programs, also our Campus Programs and
many others, help to support the need for services. Our SAS
program itself, Sexual Assault Services Program, is the first
funding stream, as I mentioned earlier, that is dedicated
solely to sexual assault victims services, and those apply in
rural areas as well. It is extremely important that we have
appropriate advocacy and counseling services in rural areas and
that they work with local law enforcement and prosecution as
well.
Senator Klobuchar. OK. In your testimony, your written
testimony, you acknowledge that 10.5 percent of high school
girls and 4.5 percent of high school boys report some kind of
rape or forced sexual intercourse. What is your office doing to
better address the problems of rape at the high school level
and on to college?
Ms. Carbon. Assault of teenagers and on college campuses is
one of the most serious problems that we have. The more that we
look at what is going on and we study, we learn that assault is
happening at earlier and earlier ages. Sixteen years ago, when
the first Violence Against Women Act was adopted, we did not
even contemplate teen violence. We talk about teen dating
violence, for example, but it is really not dating violence
because kids do not date. It is really sexual assault in those
relationships.
We have a program that OVW is funding in partnership with
the Ad Council and the Family Violence Prevention Fund called
ThatsNotCool.com. It is a website where teens can go online and
they can talk peer to peer to learn about how to address what
may be happening in their relationships so that they can be
safer and who they can turn to to get help so that they can
avoid any further sexual assault.
On college campuses, we have a number of technical
assistance providers as well, including one which we have here,
the Security at Campus Program. We are doing lots of training
on college campuses, and, in fact, the Department of Justice
just completed a campus tour in March to highlight what is
going on around college campuses in the country and the
importance of starting new programs.
Back in my home State of New Hampshire, we are funding a
program, the Bystander Intervention Program, so that college
campuses and college students can learn what they can do to
intervene safely when they observe on college campuses an
incident about to happen or one which may have happened.
College students there have developed their own campaign ads to
post on all of the buses going around campus, their own
billboards saying watch out if this happened or do you know
about this, or whatever it may be.
Senator Klobuchar. I do not mean to cut you off, but the
cyber issue, have you looked into that? I have a bill with
Senator Hutchison, and that also has House authors, and we have
been working actually with Erin Andrews, the ESPN reporter who
was stalked and her video was put all over the web. I suggest
you guys look at this bill. I think it is good for going after
cyber stalking. But have you looked at the cyber issue and how
that relates to sexual assault issues in colleges and in high
schools with kids?
Ms. Carbon. It is a big part of that.
Senator Klobuchar. That is what I thought.
Ms. Carbon. The kids are using technology that in my day
and age we never had, and it is really a very important piece
of the overall puzzle, because, regrettably, parents are not
aware of some of the ways in which their kids are being
assaulted or stalked. And so having information about that is
important. It is part of our training programs which we have.
Senator Klobuchar. All right. Thank you very much.
Chairman Specter. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.
Thank you very much, Director Carbon.
Ms. Carbon. Thank you, Senator.
Chairman Specter. We move now to the next panel: Carol
Tracy, Commissioner Ramsey, Ms. Sara Reedy, Julie Weil, Ms.
LaWanda Ravoira.
Our first witness is Ms. Carol Tracy, the executive
director of the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia. She is a
lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr School
of Social Research, a graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania, and a law degree from Temple University.
We have a very large number of witnesses, nine in total, so
we are going to have to observe the time limits very closely.
Ms. Tracy, the floor is yours for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF CAROL E. TRACY, WOMEN'S LAW PROJECT, PHILADELPHIA,
PENNSYLVANIA
Ms. Tracy. Thank you, Senator Specter, and thank you for
responding to my request to have this hearing, and I thank
other members of the panel for being here.
We believe it is critically important that Congress address
the claims that are being made that police departments
throughout the United States are mishandling rapes and other
sex crimes. We think it is essential that this Committee review
the serious inadequacy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
Uniform Crime Report both in its definition of rape and in the
assessment of the quality of the rape data reported by local
law enforcement agencies.
The Women's Law Project first became involved in addressing
police mishandling of sex crimes in the fall of 1999 when the
Philadelphia Inquirer published an investigative series which
you described earlier, Senator Specter. Massive reforms have
taken place in Philadelphia since that time, including an
invitation for advocacy groups to review case files. Ten years
later, we and other advocates continue to conduct an annual
case review. A very strong collaborative reform effort put in
place by then-Commissioner John Timoney continues under the
able leadership of Commissioner Ramsey. We all recognize the
need for constant vigilance and cooperation. We believe that we
have a successful partnership in Philadelphia.
Because of the role that we have played in this,
journalists from all over the country have contacted me. My
full testimony is replete with information. I will just
highlight a couple to try to get through this in 5 minutes.
The Baltimore Sun reported that, since 1992, the number of
Baltimore rape cases reported to the FBI has declined by 80
percent; since 1991, the percentage of unfounded rape cases has
tripled. From 2003 through 2010, police wrote reports in only 4
in 10 rape calls, signifying that patrol officers were
rejecting cases prior to investigation.
Each of these papers--St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Times-
Picayune, the New York Times, the Village Voice--all report
data like this.
The translation of this data to real life presents some
horrifying details. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a
Cleveland victim was found to be ``not credible'' after she
filed a complaint that she had been sexually assaulted by a man
who had spent 15 years in prison for a rape charge, was a
registered sex offender. Her complaint was unfounded even
though she was bleeding when she flagged down a police cruiser
and provided the police with detailed information about the
assailant. Police eventually found the remains of 11 women at
Anthony Sowell's home, six of whom were murdered after police
failed to pursue the complaints of these women. In Milwaukee
and Baltimore and Philadelphia, we have all heard stories like
that.
Initially I thought the reports of egregious police conduct
were isolated incidents. However, it is clear that we are
seeing chronic and systemic patterns of police refusing to
accept cases for investigation, misclassifying cases to non-
criminal categories so that investigations do not occur, and
``unfounding'' complaints by determining that women are lying
about being sexually assaulted. Victims are interrogated as
though they are criminals, are presumptively disbelieved, are
threatened with lie detector tests and/or arrest, and are
blamed for the outrageous conduct of perpetrators.
I want to move now to the Uniform Crime Report. The UCR
defines, analyzes, and publicizes the incidence of sex crimes.
The UCR is supposed to be the authoritative source of
nationally represented information on crime. The data are used
by policymakers, the media, and researchers to describe and
understand crime and police activity. In addition, Congress
allocates Federal funds to States and localities based on these
data.
Criminologists have informed me that this data is so
inaccurate on rape, unlike other data that the UCR reports,
that it cannot be used.
Not only is the crime of rape not properly reported, but
the definition is totally inadequate. ``Forcible rape'' is
defined in the UCR as ``the carnal knowledge of a female,
forcibly and against her will.'' This definition, unchanged
since 1927, is exceedingly narrow and does not reflect how
America has significantly expanded its understanding of rape,
and States have revised their laws accordingly.
Many State criminal laws and the public at large now
recognize that all forms of non-consensual sexual penetration,
regardless of gender, relationship, or mode of penetration, are
as serious as the criminal conduct included in the UCR crime.
Yet the narrow definition continues.
We wrote to the FBI in the year 2001, sadly in September
2001, asking them to change the definition of rape. Over 90
organizations signed on to our request. At that time, of
course, the FBI's attention was directed to the events of 9/11.
We have never received a response, and we believe that both the
crisis that is being reported in the papers and this hearing
will bring about the necessary change.
Rape is a heinous crime, second only to murder in severity.
Sexual assault survivors who have come forward to report the
crime are entitled to be treated fairly and with dignity. If
police do not regard complaints of rape as crimes, then there
is no investigation or arrest, thus further endangering the
public as sexual predators remain free to continue to rape
other victims, and in some cases murder them.
Chairman Specter. Ms. Tracy, how much longer will you need?
Ms. Tracy. Pardon?
Chairman Specter. How much longer will you----
Ms. Tracy. I am at the end.
We recommend the following steps: Please direct the UCR
program staff to update the definition of rape; charge the UCR
program staff to undertake a nationwide audit of police
practices to ensure that local law enforcement agencies are
recognizing and investigating crimes; and continue the support
of the Office of Violence Against Women.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be here, and we just
want to make a note that we should all be grateful to the
press, because if it were not for the press reporting these, we
would not be here today.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Tracy appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Ms. Tracy.
We turn now to Commissioner Ramsey, Police Commissioner of
the city of Philadelphia, fourth largest in the country, some
7,500 employees, was for 8 years the Police Commissioner of
Washington, D.C.
Thank you for joining us, Commissioner Ramsey, and we look
forward to your testimony for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF CHARLES H. RAMSEY, COMMISSIONER, PHILADELPHIA
POLICE DEPARTMENT, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Commissioner Ramsey. Thank you and good afternoon, Senator
Specter, Senators Franken and Cardin, and invited speakers and
guests. I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear here
today before this Committee to talk about this critically
important issue.
I would like to begin by thanking a trusted colleague,
tireless advocate, and friend Carol Tracy, who testified before
me and summarized the incidents in Philadelphia in 1999 that
led to dramatic changes in the department. I firmly believe
that partnerships between law enforcement agencies and our
social service, prevention, and victim advocacy counterparts
are absolutely essential in addressing some of the most
pressing issues that confront us.
I will be brief in this testimony and share with you the
most relevant lessons learned from our history in the
Philadelphia Police Department on how rape has been reported
and investigated. The deliberate downgrading of rape cases in
the Philadelphia Police Department in the late 1990s, brought
to light by the excellent investigative work of the
Philadelphia Inquirer, exposed a widespread hidden practice.
There was no one person or unit responsible; it was a pervasive
and systemic failure. Consequently, it took a comprehensive and
relentless approach to address this failure. Under then-Police
Commissioner, John Timoney, many important corrective actions
were taken at all levels: from training, report writing, and
interviewing, to coding and follow-up investigation. It also
required changing leadership, adjusting staffing levels,
accepting oversight, and establishing partnerships with
advocacy groups.
The department has had the same commander of the now
Special Victims Unit, or SVU, since the year 2000, at which
time a number of seasoned investigators were also transferred
into the unit to increase our staffing levels. Our partners
have also remained in their positions in the advocacy groups.
Carol Tracy has been with the Women's Law Project since these
changes were implemented, and once a year, she and her peers
from other organizations come to the SVU office and pore over
between 300 to 400 cases selected at random. They have complete
access to our files and our personnel. This is just the formal
component of their annual review, but on a daily basis, these
organizations are in constant communication with police
personnel from SVU. They have established a long-term
relationship, one that is built on trust and confidence in what
was a broken system. I credit all the personnel in SVU and our
advocacy groups for their persistence and their dedication to
their jobs, and to the thousands of people they have helped
deal with this traumatic crime. I cannot overstate the
importance of this collaboration in charting a new course of
direction in how rape was and is now reported and investigated
by our department.
The Philadelphia Police Department put measures into place
that thus far have been helpful in re-establishing trust and
promoting a culture that treats victims of rape with dignity
and respect. There will always be room for improvement, but we
are committed to continuous improvement as a core principle for
how we will move forward in the future.
Fostering collaboration amongst governmental organizations,
police departments, courts, and advocacy and prevention groups
is critical in ensuring that we work with victims of rape and
sexual assault in a manner that is compassionate and under a
process that is transparent. We must all be advocates for
anyone who has been impacted by this kind of violence. If there
are lessons to be learned from our department, I would urge
others to focus on this aspect of how we report and investigate
rape and sexual assault. Do not do it alone. Invite your
stakeholders to be a part of this process and work together in
treating rape and sexual assault from a holistic perspective.
Our partnerships have strengthened every part of the process,
from reporting each case of sexual assault, irrespective of the
circumstances, to a thorough investigation by well-trained
specialized detectives, and finally to working with our medical
and mental health providers in minimizing the trauma
experienced by victims of this heinous crime.
A crisis is often a catalyst for real and systemic change,
such as was the case in Philadelphia. Police departments can
also learn from each other, and organizations like the Police
Executive Research Forum can facilitate that transfer of
knowledge. And I am pleased to announce today, as the president
of PERF, that we will convene an executive session in early
2011 for police leaders, medical and mental health
professionals, and advocacy groups to discuss the current state
of sexual assault reporting and investigations. Based on the
results of this session, we will make recommendations on how
police agencies can partner with their social service and
advocacy colleagues and identify best practices in the
investigative process.
Thank you, sir, for your time here today, and I look
forward to answering any questions you might have.
[The prepared statement of Commissioner Ramsey appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Commissioner Ramsey.
We turn now to Ms. Sara Reedy, who had an extraordinary
experience, having been raped at the age of 19 by a serial
offender, not believed by the police, jailed, later exonerated
when the serial rapist was caught in other similar situations,
and engaged in significant litigation which was upheld by the
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Ms. Reedy, thank you for joining us, and for 5 minutes we
want to hear what happened to you.
STATEMENT OF SARA R. REEDY, BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA
Ms. Reedy. Thank you, and thank you for having me here.
On July 14, 2004, I was working a 3 to 11 shift at the
Cranberry Gulf Station on Route 19 by myself. At about 10:40
p.m., a man came into the store. He proceeded to walk through
the store and then approached the counter, where he pulled a
gun out and pointed it at me. He demanded that I sit on the
floor in the corner, and he came behind the counter where the
register was located. He questioned me about how to open the
register drawer. After removing the cash, he came and stood
directly in front of me where he held a gun to my left temple
and demanded that I give him oral sex, saying ``if you do not
swallow, then I will shoot you.'' After the assault, he told me
to go into the back office and rip out the phone lines, and
then said to me to wait in the back office for 5 minutes after
he left.
Following the assault, I went next door to Jordan's, an
automotive shop. I had one of the employees call 911 and
reported the crime. I stayed at the shop where several officers
showed up, and I gave them a description of the attacker and my
account of the assault. Shortly afterward, I was taken to
Cranberry Passavant Hospital, where I first met Detective
Evanson.
When I arrived in the emergency room, I was put in a small
office, where I begin to retell the night's events to Detective
Evanson. At one point he asked me how many times a day I used
heroin. I was then soon moved to an examination room. Detective
Evanson came inside the room several different times asking me
to retell the attack, and soon his attitude became very
aggressive toward me.
He asked me countless times where I had put the money or
where the money was. He told me if I confessed things would go
a lot easier for me. At one point I got very upset and was
crying, and he told me that my ``tears would not save me.'' I
stayed at the hospital for 3 hours before I was allowed to
leave to go home.
The next day, I went to the Cranberry police station with
my mother and stepfather to give a written statement as asked
by Detective Evanson. When I arrived at the police station, I
was put in a small conference room by myself to write my
statement, and Detective Evanson took my parents into another
room where he questioned them about me. After finishing my
written statement, Detective Evanson came into the room and
began to question and accuse me about the theft. At one point I
responded that I just wanted it all to go away.
After only meeting Detective Evanson two times, I had lost
hope of my attacker being caught because of Detective Evanson's
unwillingness to believe my story.
Two months after I was assaulted, another woman was
sexually assaulted within 2 miles of my attack. Detective
Evanson was assigned to this case. This woman gave almost the
same exact description of her attacker and his M.O. as I had.
Unfortunately, Detective Evanson was unable or just refused to
make the connection between the two assaults, because he still
accused me of fabricating my story.
Detective Evanson even showed up at my residence where he
called a marked police car for backup. He stood outside my
house asking me to change my written statement and to confess
to the crime and they would go easy on me. After almost 45
minutes at my house, the only thing he managed to do was
embarrass me in front of my neighbors and revictimize me.
On Sunday, January 14, 2005, a warrant for my arrest was
issued for theft, receiving stolen property, and filing a false
police report. On Thursday, January 18th, I went to the
Cranberry magistrate and turned myself in. I was given a $5,000
straight cash bond because, according to Detective Evanson, I
was a flight risk. I spent the next 5 days in jail waiting for
a bond reduction hearing and a bondsman so I could be released.
This all happened while I was 4 months pregnant with my first
child.
While awaiting trial, I had contacted a statewide tip line
for a serial rapist. I talked to an officer and made him aware
of the fact that I was assaulted and that I believed it was the
same man they were looking for. I also explained that I
reported the crime and my complaint was not taken seriously and
I was arrested for the crime.
Over 13 months after I was assaulted, a statewide search
for a serial rapist ended. A man by the name of Wilbur Brown
was caught in the act of sexually assaulting a gas station
attendant in Brookville. After being placed under arrest,
Wilbur Brown confessed to 12 different sexual assaults. One of
those assaults happened to me.
Thanks to a local news reporter, I was notified of that
fact. I was able to call my lawyer who in return called
Detective Evanson who confirmed that there was a confession and
my charges would be dropped.
After this experience, it left me concerned if I would ever
be able to rely on an officer to do his job. Because of
Detective Evanson's uncooperative attitude and unwillingness to
believe me, the victim, a serial rapist was allowed to continue
attacking and assaulting other women.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Reedy appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Ms. Reedy, for
sharing that experience with us.
Our next witness is Ms. Julie Weil, also a rape victim in
Florida. In 2002, she was attacked by the so-called day-care
rapist while picking her children up from a school in Miami-
Dade County, beaten and later reported her crime and appeared
on ``America's Most Wanted.''
Thank you for joining us, Ms. Weil, and the floor is yours
for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JULIE WEIL, JUPITER, FLORIDA
Ms. Weil. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Chairman
Specter and distinguished members of the Committee. Thank you
for the invitation to participate in today's hearing. I am
humbled to share my experience with you, and I hope that it
empowers all of you to help all rape victims get the support
they need to heal and to fight the injustice of the crime.
Improving the reporting and the investigation of rape will
happen only when we are committed to providing victims with
comprehensive support services--from that first 911 call all
the way through to sentencing. My story demonstrates this: The
support services I received sustained me through the longest,
most grueling years of my life, a time when giving up seemed
like the best thing to do.
As mentioned, my name is Julie Weil. I was raised in Miami,
Florida, graduated from the University of Virginia, and then
spent a brief time here in Washington working for the
Department of Justice. After graduate school, I got married,
and my husband and I chose to settle down in the same small
town in South Miami where I had grown up. And this is where my
story begins.
On a beautiful, hot October morning in 2002, my 8-month-old
son Peter and I went to pick up my 3-year-old daughter Emily
from the church pre-school around the corner from our house.
When we got back to our minivan, my daughter jumped inside
while I buckled my son into his car seat. As I was doing this,
I was ambushed from behind and hit on the head. As my daughter
screamed for her life and fought to escape the van, my
assailant stripped the car keys from my hand and held a knife
to my neck. He closed the door behind me, locked us in, turned
up the radio, and drowned out the sounds of my children's
cries. As he pulled out of the church parking lot he turned to
me and said, ``Ma'am, do you believe in God? '' And when I said
yes, he said, ``Good. Then you are going to forgive me for what
I am about to do to you and your two children.''
He then drove my children and me as far away as he could to
an area in the Everglades, parking our van on a canal bank
surrounded by tall sawgrass. The hours that followed were the
most terrifying of my life. The assailant beat me, held a knife
to my neck, and raped me four times. Each time I was violently
raped, he forced both of my children to watch every moment of
his crime. My daughter was forced to sit just inches from me as
I screamed in pain during the brutal sexual assault. When he
was done with me, he drove me to two ATM machines and asked me
to withdraw money. He then returned our van to the church,
parked it behind some shrubs, and told me to wipe down all the
surfaces of the car with my underwear to erase the
fingerprints. He then laid me naked on the floor of the van and
stuck the knife at the base of my neck one last time. He made
my daughter beg for my life. The fear in my daughter Emily's
tiny voice as she pleaded for him not to kill me still haunts
me today. Then he casually opened the van door and walked away.
I immediately drove to my parents' house and limped inside.
Half naked and bleeding, I sobbed while my parents begged me to
call 911. Although I was afraid of what my rapist might do to
my family if I reported the crime, I soon called the police.
The compassionate and professional responding officer and the
SVU detective who arrived at my house that night, set the tone
for how I would feel about my experience with law enforcement
from that point on. Without that encouraging beginning, my
story might have ended quite differently.
Eventually, they took me to the rape crisis center at
Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Thankfully, the police and
the nurses at the rape crisis center were all veterans in
dealing with the unique needs of rape victims. The exam was
horrible and very painful. Being poked, prodded, and
photographed was almost too much to take, but the forensic
nurse who stuck by my side helped me through the pain.
The next few months were torture on my family. The police
found no fingerprints, and the rape treatment center uncovered
no DNA on my body. This was extremely disheartening news.
However, a few days after the rape, I received a call informing
me that a tiny speck of DNA had been recovered on my clothing.
The DNA matched the DNA from another crime, but, unfortunately,
the information was not in the system. In a city of millions of
people, my attacker could be anyone. I was terrified.
The Miami-Dade police force put everything they had into
looking for this man. My relationship with the detectives in
this case served as a source of strength for me in the
agonizing months after my rape. Because they communicated with
me and checked in on me, I felt like they were personally
invested, and this gave me the strength I needed to continue
forward.
By a stroke of luck and some good police work, my rapist
was finally identified months later. He was caught beating up
his pregnant girlfriend at a motel. He was printed and swabbed
for DNA, and 3 weeks later, the DNA tests came back as a match.
I now knew who my attacker was: Michael Thomas Seibert. I
finally thought to myself it was over, but I did not know that
the real endurance test was just beginning.
After his arrest, the State Attorney's office in Miami-Dade
took over the case. I was thrown headfirst into the complex
legal system that was totally foreign to me. The first 18
months after my rapist's capture were filled with a great deal
of confusion, delay, and disappointment, and I started to feel
hopeless. Then my case ended up on the desk of Assistant State
Attorney Laura Adams. Her team was amazing. They promptly
returned my phone calls and communicated with me about
everything. They empathized with my concerns and helped me to
see the bigger picture, which was justice for my family.
In October 2006 my trial began. It took more than 4 years
of work to get to this point. Facing my rapist in court was
extraordinarily difficult, not just for me but for my family.
The compassionate care of the wonderful counselors from the
State Attorney's office was invaluable to my family, and
especially to my mother as she prepared to testify.
Finally, after many days, I took the stand. For nearly 2
hours, just feet from my rapist, I relived the horrendous crime
in graphic detail. I endured degrading testimony from defense
attorneys and recited all the despicable details to a room full
of strangers.
The jury deliberated for 2\1/2\ hours. I held my breath as
they returned their decision: guilty on three counts of armed
kidnapping, guilty on four counts of rape in the first degree
with a deadly weapon, and guilty on one count of robbery.
Sentencing came 5 weeks later. I told the judge how the rapist
had destroyed the life I wanted for my family. I told him he
forced us to leave the city, home, friends, and family we loved
because we no longer felt safe. The judge saw fit to sentence
Michael Seibert to an astounding seven consecutive life
sentences plus 15 years for the crimes that occurred against my
family.
Chairman Specter. Ms. Weil, how much longer will you need?
Ms. Weil. I am just wrapping up.
There is immense power in seeing a case through to the end.
The justice system can work when victims are provided with the
support we need. Without that support, my rapist may still be
free and victimizing others. That is why organizations like
RAINN must be provided with the funds necessary to run their
website and their hotlines that provide emotional support for
families.
Seven years ago, I was lying on the floor of my van, in the
presence of my two children, naked and bleeding. I never would
have imagined being able to come here to Washington to speak to
you as a survivor activist. So now I continue to share my story
with law enforcement training, State Attorney meetings, and
medical personnel. The power that a positive experience with
law enforcement and the legal system can have on a life and on
public safety is enormous. The safest and the healthiest
communities acknowledge the severity of rape as a crime and
begin by respecting all victims, providing specialized training
to law enforcement and health care professionals, and not
downplaying the prevalence or the seriousness of rape.
Thank you so much for your time and for inviting me to
speak on this important topic.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Weil appears as a submission
for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Ms. Weil.
The final witness on this panel is Dr. LaWanda Ravoira, the
founding director of the National Council on Crime and
Delinquency, Center for Girls and Young Women, in Jacksonville,
Florida. Dr. Ravoira has an extensive educational background
with a bachelor's, master's, and doctorate in public
administration.
Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to your
testimony for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LAWANDA RAVOIRA, PH.D., DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNCIL
ON CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, CENTER FOR GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN,
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
Ms. Ravoira. Thank you, Chairman Specter and members of
this Committee, for inviting the NCCD Center for Girls and
Young Women to testify on this very important subject.
Chairman Specter. Ms. Ravoira, before you proceed, I would
like to recognize Senator Franken, who has another commitment
at 3:30, for a question.
Senator Franken. Thank you for your indulgence, Mr.
Chairman, and, Dr. Ravoira, thank you for your work, and I did
read your testimony last night. And I also want to thank Ms.
Tracy and Commissioner Ramsey for your work, and your work,
too, Ms. Weil. What happened to you and to Ms. Reedy is simply
horrific, and I am just sorry about this, but I do have to go.
And I just wanted to ask one question, and that is to Ms.
Reedy.
I would like to know what happened to Detective Evanson. I
know that you have sued him and that was thrown out, and then
that was overturned and that will either be going on or has
gone on. But is he still on the force? Was he retained on the
force?
Ms. Reedy. Yes, he is still a detective.
Senator Franken. OK. That to me is pretty amazing. I want
to thank you and Ms. Weil again for your courage being here
today and for all the other witnesses and Ms. Weil, and you,
Ms. Reedy, for the work that you do.
Ms. Reedy. Thank you.
Senator Franken. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your
indulgence.
Chairman Specter. Dr. Ravoira, you may proceed.
Ms. Ravoira. Thank you, Chairman.
On behalf of the NCCD Center for Girls and Young Women, my
work is about providing a voice for girls and young women to
ensure that there are gender-appropriate responses to the
treatment of girls and women. Today I would like to give voice
to a young girl named Gabby. She is a 14-year-old girl, who is
from Florida, who was not lucky enough to get a police officer
who was willing to hear her story.
You have heard the statistics throughout this hearing where
one in six women will experience a rape or an attempted rape in
her lifetime. More than half of these rape victims will be
raped before their 18th birthday. But the statistics do not
tell the whole story. Rape, as you have heard, is one of the
most severe of all traumas. Think for a moment: The scene of
the crime is the body of the survivor.
One survivor's story paints a haunting picture of the long-
term impact of rape. Her name is Gabby. Gabby is a 14-year-old
young woman who I have had the pleasure of knowing and learning
from her courage. She is the daughter of a migrant family who
lives in Florida. She was alone sleeping in her bedroom when
the rapist came through the window, threatened her, took her
out into the fields, and brutally raped her. She made her way
back home to her mother, who did the right thing. She went to
the local police department and asked for help. The police
response was: What did you do to provoke this?
She was sent home without support or referrals for
treatment. She was terrified. For months, she did not leave her
house, and she slept with her mother. Gabby was charged then
for truancy for not going to school. Her mother convinced her
to start sleeping again in her bedroom, but Gabby, when
everybody would go to bed at night, would take her pillow and
sleep on the floor outside of her mother's door because she was
terrified.
When she did return to her room sometime later, the rapist
returned and raped her again. This time, when the mother
reached out for help, the police did take a report, but little
was done to find the rapist. But at least Gabby was referred to
a program for girls and young women. Here she began to tell her
story. She was terrified to leave because she did not know what
the rapist looked like and she felt like he knew who she was
and could be anywhere.
This trauma continues to haunt her. The staff knew that she
was the classic case of post-traumatic stress disorder. She was
depressed and hopeless. She was a victim twice in what some
people call ``a secondary rape.'' When she told the police, she
was not believed.
Gabby's story is the story of hundreds of girls and young
women in this country. When girls make a decision to go to the
police and report the rape, the response of the police is
critical not only to the girl but to her family.
There are pervasive attitudes and beliefs by the police
that inhibit their ability to stop this horrible crime.
First, there is a belief that if it is not a stranger rape
that it is not as serious. There is also a belief if a weapon
is not involved that it is not as serious. This is most
disturbing when what we know is 80 percent of sexual assaults
happen by someone who knows the victim. It is also quite
disturbing when we know that control tactics do not always
involve a weapon. That was certainly the case of Gabby. She was
simply threatened and terrified.
Also, what we see is law enforcement will discourage
victims from reporting, sometimes portraying the personal cost
to pursue prosecution, like repeated court trips, cross-
examinations that can be humiliating, or simply they do not
believe the victim.
Police may also threaten the victim about being charged for
the crime if there is inconsistency in their story, and
certainly the advocates that I work with feel the most
egregious thing that continues to happen is that victims are
asked to sign a waiver of prosecution when there is an
acquaintance rape, which means the rape does not even get
reviewed by the State Attorney. We hear consistently that it is
just too hard to prosecute. What we believe is that the police
officers are not trained to conduct an appropriate
investigation.
Chairman Specter. Dr. Ravoira, how long will you----
Ms. Ravoira. I just have a few recommendations.
The Center for Girls and Young Women is calling for an
examination of the police culture and practices to improve the
response to girls and young women. First, we believe, in
addition to the things that you have already heard, that there
should be consequences for police officers who unfairly detain
and who treat victims of sexual violence as criminals. We also
believe that there should be funding for more research for
services for the missing voices and experiences of the highly
marginalized----
Chairman Specter. Dr. Ravoira----
Ms. Ravoira [continuing]. And vulnerable population.
Chairman Specter [continuing]. How long will you need? How
much longer will you need?
Ms. Ravoira. About 10 seconds. Thank you.
And these victims include immigrants, individuals from
rural communities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
victims, survivors with disabilities, as well as homeless
women, and girls and women who are living in institutions and
prisons. There also needs to be special attention to the rape
and sexual assault of women in the military.
We believe that it is vital that we collect accurate
information about sexual assaults and the impact of police
practices. It is our belief that no one should have to go
through what Gabby went through and what she endured and
continues to deal with. She deserves better, and so do all of
the other women.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Ravoira appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Ms. Reedy, how have you fared since this
terrible experience?
Ms. Reedy. I am sorry. Could you repeat that? I am sorry.
Could you repeat that? I did not----
Chairman Specter. How have you been after being the victim
of the terrible circumstances you describe? How are you now?
Ms. Reedy. Things are getting better. It has been a long
road. I have been lucky to have a great family to support me
and help me.
Chairman Specter. How can you account for that police
officer still being on the force?
Ms. Reedy. I find it insulting, not only to me but to the
people in the community.
Chairman Specter. Ms. Weil, how are your children?
Ms. Weil. Thank you for asking. My son was only 8 months
old. He was too small to really understand what was happening.
With him, it was more the 4 years that passed I was very
distracted and not able to really be the Mom to him I wanted to
be. My daughter struggles a lot still to this day with an
eating disorder and an anxiety disorder, because although the
incident happened on a single day, she was questioned
repeatedly by police and by the State Attorney's office, so she
was forced to relive it for a long time.
Chairman Specter. How are they now?
Ms. Weil. To see them, on the surface we are all doing a
lot better. We have moved to a new community, and we are all
getting counseling, and the future looks brighter than it did
for sure 7 years ago.
Chairman Specter. Dr. Ravoira, how is Gabby?
Ms. Ravoira. Gabby is doing much better. She is going to
school, and she is moving forward with her life. But the scars
are really deep.
Chairman Specter. Did they ever catch the fellow?
Ms. Ravoira. They did not.
Chairman Specter. Ms. Tracy, you tell about the FBI not
responding. You have pinpointed a very serious problem about
the definition, which is antiquated. I am sorry the FBI has not
responded to your letter. I will let you know when they respond
to mine. The Subcommittee will take this up with the FBI.
[Laughter.]
Ms. Tracy. Thank you.
Chairman Specter. We will keep you posted.
Commissioner Ramsey, your practices of involving the
stakeholders, as you have put it, is a very good idea. Nothing
like having oversight by the victims' advocates. Tell us a
little more about exactly how that works. You make those
records available to the women's group, and they review them
and give you their judgment as to whether something else should
be done?
Commissioner Ramsey. Yes, sir. Let me again say that John
Timoney deserves the credit for having begun this, but I agree
wholeheartedly with this approach and will continue to refine
it and make it even better.
But, yes, at least once a year, 300, 400 cases are chosen
at random, and they spend a few days actually going over these
cases, and particularly unfounded or exceptionally cleared
cases, and they will find some cases where it is felt that
there are some investigative leads that were not followed up on
and so forth. We get it back and go out and complete the
investigation.
There are sometimes active cases that are ongoing where
either we need their assistance or they have some questions for
us. And, again, I think it is a good check and balance, and I
think that it is the way to go. I think that no matter how good
your system may be internally, if you do not have someone from
the outside that can review and critique what it is you are
doing and always working toward helping to make it better, then
I think that it is always going to be subject to some, you
know, doubt as to whether or not you are thoroughly
investigating these crimes.
Our job is to take the report. It does not matter what you
may feel about the victim. Take the report. Let the
investigation reveal whether or not it is founded, unfounded,
what needs to happen. Let the investigative process take hold.
Chairman Specter. Commissioner, I have only got 47 seconds
left.
Ms. Tracy, as a Pennsylvanian, you are one of my employers,
and as a Philadelphian, you are one of Commissioner Ramsey's
employers. Is he doing a good job on this subject?
Ms. Tracy. Absolutely, both on this subject and we are also
working very intensively with them on domestic violence and
stalking, and we are, in fact, putting a whole new protocol in
place for dealing with domestic violence. We have a really good
partnership, and we can take complaints to them, and the
defensiveness is not there. Just we have got a problem, we are
going to talk about it, and we move forward. But they have been
incredibly responsive to the advocacy community.
Chairman Specter. Senator Cardin.
Senator Cardin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and let me thank
this panel.
We hear the statistics, we hear the numbers, and I really
want to thank particularly Ms. Reedy and Ms. Weil for being
here to put a face on the issue. Numbers can be cold, but when
you hear the testimony of people who have been victimized, you
realize how many families have been involved and affected by
the policies, the laws we pass, and the way that they are
implemented. So I really want to thank you. I know it is not
easy to appear before us, and I thank both of you for being
here to help us understand a little bit better the seriousness
of what we are dealing with.
Ms. Tracy, and also Mr. Ramsey, you talk about the
statistical information. Unless we have good statistics, we
cannot plan how to deal with this. You cannot allocate the
resources. You do not know how many--how the police have to
allocate their resources, local governments, the State's
Attorney, and, of course, here at the national level. And we do
not have good statistical information on sexual assaults. We
just do not have it. We need to get beyond just the current way
that it is reported.
I know that you mentioned the Uniform Crime Report. I think
we need to get to a National Incident Based Reporting System
which gives a lot more information and detail so that we can
develop a uniform understanding of what is happening around the
Nation. I know in my own State of Maryland, we are moving
forward to implement the National Incident Based Reporting
System. It is more costly, and we are going to need to see
whether we need to do policies nationally to make sure we have
this accurately done for sexual assault cases.
But then you need to have a way in which you have some
uniform and accountable system for evaluating and referring the
incidents that occur. It cannot rest with the responding police
officer. I am sure they are doing incredible work, but you need
to have independent, accountable reviews of what is happening
for the proper referral and for providing the proper assistance
to the victim. You could not have two dramatically different
stories than the two people who are before us, both suffering
from a horrible incident, one finding the system that
responded--4 years is too long, but that is our justice system,
and sometimes it takes a long time to get where we need to. In
your case, the results were what it should have been.
Obviously, we did not want this to happen at all. We want to
prevent it. But in Ms. Reedy's case, it was horrible. You were
abused twice, and that should never have happened.
So I think the lesson learned from this panel, Mr.
Chairman, is that we really need to get better statistical
information as to what is happening, and we need to make sure
that there is a consistent policy in the way that reports are
handled and that there is an accountable system for reviewing
the way that they are referred for investigation and
prosecution so that we can properly evaluate what we need to do
to be a partner here at the Federal level to make sure this is
handled properly.
Just speaking, Ms. Tracy, to your point about the
Philadelphia Inquirer and what happened in the Baltimore Sun
papers, when you put a spotlight on it, people respond.
Unfortunately, there are so many things that people are doing
that this has become not a priority in too many jurisdictions
around the Nation. We want to make sure this is a priority in
every jurisdiction around the country.
Ms. Tracy. And it should not just be the responsibility of
investigative reporters to look at this, because in addition to
the UCR not having the appropriate definition, they are not
exercising their audit responsibility. When 45 cities with
populations over 100,000 have unfounded rates of rape over 20
percent, there is something very wrong with those cities. Some
cities have more unfoundeds than they have reported rapes.
So the FBI's Uniform Crime Report really needs to examine
both its definition and its audit responsibilities, and I think
we would all be happy if NIBRS were implemented throughout the
country. Part of the reason that we wrote the letter we did in
2001 is that we just saw it was not moving as quickly or at
all.
Senator Cardin. I agree completely.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Senator Cardin.
We now turn to our next panel: Dr. Kilpatrick, Scott
Berkowitz, Eleanor Smeal, and Professor Dempsey.
Our first witness on this panel is Dr. Dean Kilpatrick,
Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Medical University of
South Carolina, director of the National Crime Victims Center.
While they are departing, I want to thank very much our first
panel: Ms. Tracy, Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Reedy, Ms. Weil, and Dr.
Ravoira.
We begin with you, Dr. Kilpatrick. Regrettably, the number
of witnesses we have had and the number of questions have
prevented our moving into as much detail analytically as I
would have liked, and as we have done at most hearings. But
there are other commitments shortly after 4, which has required
us to keep on a very tight schedule.
We look forward to your testimony, Dr. Kilpatrick. The
floor is yours for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF DEAN G. KILPATRICK, PH.D., DISTINGUISHED
UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR, VICE CHAIR FOR EDUCATION, DEPARTMENT OF
PSYCHIATRY, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL CRIME VICTIMS RESEARCH &
TREATMENT CENTER, MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
Mr. Kilpatrick. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the Commerce
Department, and I appreciate the opportunity for being able to
address the Committee. I have submitted a lot of written
material which would tell you more than anyone ever wanted to
know about rape statistics, and so I am not going to go into
that in any depth at all.
What I would like to say is that I think statistics are
important because it provides policymakers with information
that will allow us to know whether things are changing, whether
they are getting better or worse, and where the problems lie so
that we can document really what needs to be done.
I have been in this field for a long time, since 1974, when
I helped establish the first rape crisis center in the State of
South Carolina. And I would like to say that I think things
have gotten better in some ways, and in some ways things have
not changed at all.
One of the things that has not changed significantly is
improvements in the way that particularly the FBI Uniform Crime
Report documents and commands to law enforcement agencies about
how the data are collected. And so I would just like to
associate myself with the remarks of several other people who
say that there is really no excuse now not to change the way
that the FBI Uniform Crime Report addresses the issue of rape.
I would also like to talk about two studies briefly that my
colleagues and I have done that had the advantage of occurring
over 15 years apart, and so they do provide some information
using contemporary, state-of-the-art measurement in terms of a
victimization survey of actually what has happened to the
prevalence of rape, meaning the proportion of women who have
ever been raped, as well as more recent cases.
To make a long story very short, what we have found is
basically that over that 15-year period there has been no
improvement at all in terms of the proportion of adult women in
the United States who have been victims of forcible rape. In
fact, it has gone up over 25 percent. So, in fact, the burden
of rape on women in America is actually greater now than it was
15 years ago.
Second, we have not found any increase, substantial
increase in terms of the proportion of rape cases that are
reported to law enforcement. Everything you have heard about
today has been cases that law enforcement knew about and then
mishandled in many cases. But most of the cases--in fact, over
80 percent of the cases still go unreported. And so basically
no law enforcement agency, no criminal justice system can
address the issues of those victims if women are reluctant to
come forward.
Third, my testimony, my written testimony, outlines
concerns that rape victims had. The big one is being believed
by other people, people finding out about my name, and over 60
percent of the victims are still saying that they are very
concerned about being believed and about what happens to
victims after they report. The concerns of the women in America
who have been raped are the same now as they were 15 years ago,
so there has been absolutely no progress on that.
Finally, we found that being the victim of rape increased
substantially the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, major
depression, suicide attempts, and alcohol and drug abuse
problems. And so most of the people who had those problems
still have them, suggesting that most victims are not getting
effective mental health care.
So, in conclusion, let me just say that I really do think
that the time has come for the Senate to demand that the
Justice Department change not only the FBI Uniform Crime
Reporting system for rape, but that it also engages in an
updating of the National Crime Victimization Survey, which
woefully under-measures rape. And so without better data on
that, we will not have information about whether things are
getting better or not without the type of independent studies
that I told you about today.
Thank you and I would be happy to answer questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kilpatrick appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Dr. Kilpatrick.
We now turn to Mr. Scott Berkowitz, founder and president
of the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, an organization
with affiliates in all 50 States. It has a hotline that
receives approximately 9,500 calls per month and reportedly has
helped over 1 million individuals since the founding of the
organization in 1994.
The floor is yours for 5 minutes, Mr. Berkowitz.
STATEMENT OF SCOTT BERKOWITZ, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, RAPE,
ABUSE, AND INCEST NATIONAL NETWORK (RAINN), WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Berkowitz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for holding
this hearing and including me.
In the U.S. today, rape is a crime without consequence--
except for the victim. The Justice Department's most recent
estimate is that about 60 percent of victims never report their
rape to the police.
Here we go.
Chairman Specter. You are on.
Mr. Berkowitz. Sorry. And since many reports do not lead to
an arrest and many arrests do not lead to a conviction or
prison time, the bottom line is that only about one out of
every 16 rapists will ever spend even a single day in prison.
Just one. As long as rapists have about a 94-percent chance of
escaping punishment, they are not likely to be deterred.
So putting more rapists in jail is the single most
effective rape prevention tool that has ever existed. To
accomplish that is going to require a sustained and focused
effort to increase both reporting and conviction rates.
A generation ago, the reasons that victims most often gave
for not reporting I think spoke vividly of the way society
viewed the crime. They feared not being believed. They feared
being interrogated about--and blamed for--their own behavior,
from what they were wearing to why they gave the perpetrator
the opportunity to commit the crime. In short, they feared that
they would be the one on trial.
Today, the perception of many victims has evolved along
with greater public understanding of the crime, and the reasons
that we hear commonly now are along the lines of: they do not
want their loved ones to know what happened. They are ashamed
about what happened or blame themselves. Or they just want to
put the whole thing behind them.
Fear, or at least skepticism, of how they might be treated
by police does still exist, but it has moved down the list of
reasons for not reporting. And so while we need more training
for law enforcement on treating victims appropriately, we also
need efforts that speak to--and educate--victims about the
importance of reporting.
Research also indicates that victims of sexual violence who
receive counseling are significantly more likely to report the
crime to police.
I want to talk briefly about law enforcement and
prosecution. And the good news is: I think many police agencies
have improved their handling of sex crimes in recent years. But
there are still many problems in addition to the UCR and coding
problems that others have discussed today.
One problem is that many agencies deal with so few sexual
assault cases each year, which makes it difficult to establish
the specialized skills to investigate rape cases. One of the
most important things Congress can do is to help local law
enforcement tap into the expertise they need to successfully
investigate and prosecute these cases.
Skilled investigators operate to a great extent on instinct
and perception, which most of the time is a good thing. But it
can cause problems when it is based on misinformation or false
impressions. Impressions like: a large percentage of rape
reports are false, when the FBI tells us that is just not true.
Or--and this is a big one that we still hear a lot--DNA
does not matter unless the attacker was a stranger or unless we
have a suspect identified. In fact, as the best DAs will tell
you, having DNA evidence in hand is crucial for any prosecution
these days. Juries expect it. It corroborates the victim's
story. And, increasingly, it helps identify patterns of serial
rapists, even acquaintance rapists.
However, the data we have is insufficient for our needs and
impedes our ability to understand the barriers to reporting,
and why so few rapists end up in prison. For example, we would
like to see DOJ and the States better track rape cases, from
initial report all the way through ultimate disposition.
Based on what we do know, there are few things that
Congress can do right now.
First, they can pass the SAFER Act, just introduced in the
House, which would create a national registry of forensic
evidence from sexual assault cases. The SAFER Act would provide
crucial information to policymakers and rape victims, and for
the first time open up data to the media so that we could have
investigative reports like those that have helped us see what
is going on in Baltimore and elsewhere. SAFER would also allow
us to track the status of evidence testing by jurisdiction. It
would help us eliminate the DNA testing backlog once and for
all.
In the upcoming reauthorization of the Justice For All Act,
Congress should increase the percentage of Debbie Smith Act
funds that are spent directly on DNA testing and analysis,
incorporate the registry requirements of the SAFER Act, and set
best practices standards for the prompt testing of all sexual
assault crime scene evidence.
We also need Congress' support to gather real, solid, in-
depth data about the problems I have discussed today. And then
we need your support to help fix them.
Overall, as Congress moves forward with the Violence
Against Women Act and other crime legislation over the next
year, we would like to see the overarching question be: What
will this bill do to improve the reporting and conviction rates
of rape cases? At the moment, 94 percent of rapists are
escaping any form of punishment. So this should be the main
focus of policymakers.
Because today, violent criminals will sexually assault
another 657 Americans. And if history is any guide, 616 of
those criminals will wake up tomorrow morning--and every
morning thereafter--free to start all over again.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Berkowitz appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you, Mr. Berkowitz.
We turn now to Ms. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist
Majority Foundation, former president of the National
Organization for Women.
The floor is yours for 5 minutes, Ms. Smeal.
STATEMENT OF ELEANOR CUTRI SMEAL, FEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION,
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Ms. Smeal. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
for holding this hearing that affects the health and safety of
millions of women and girls in the United States.
I am president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, which
one of its major goals is to reduce violence against women. In
1995, the center established the National Center for--the
foundation established the National Center for Women and
Policing, which is a division of the Foundation. The center
promotes increasing the numbers of women at all ranks of law
enforcement, both to promote equality for women and to improve
police response to violence against women.
I am going to summarize my testimony, and I would like to
submit the whole testimony in the record.
Chairman Specter. Without objection, it will be made a part
of the record.
Ms. Smeal. Thank you very much.
I am going to skip over the prevalence of rape since so
much has been said about it, but I want to underscore what was
just said by Mr. Berkowitz about the fact that so few are
incarcerated--rapists. In fact, according to one study, it is
less than 1 percent. So let us just keep that in mind.
Not only that, but the undetected rapists tend to be serial
rapists. Two shocking studies revealed that essentially for
rapes being committed, the undetected rapists were serial
rapists. Most rapists are serial rapists, and they were
committing the bulk of the rapes, between 91 and 95 percent.
This is why rape kits are so important, and it is so important
that they are processed. And I know this is not the feature of
this hearing, but it shows--it is just one indicator of the
need to further investigate rape, because if you process the
kits, and because of the nature of serial rape, you would be
finding people who are now going undetected and who will rape
again.
Another major point is that 75 percent of rapes are done by
people--probably about 75 percent--that are acquaintance rapes.
But that is not to be minimized because, again, there are
patterns and these are women who have been singled out, they
will single out other women.
Research shows that the vast majority of rapes today
involve both subduing the victim by alcohol or drugs. Now, the
reason I am pointing out all these things is that it will tie
into our recommendations of what should be done with the
Uniform Crime Report. I want to, though, specialize in talking
about the need to recruit more women in policing.
Studies show that, in fact, there is a culture in the
police departments that must be changed toward women. And I
have worked on this problem for nearly four decades, and we
have just not made much progress. Women are still only,
according to the latest reports, about 12 percent of police
departments overall and 15 percent of the largest police
departments.
I am now going to skip, because time is running out, to our
recommendations. The Uniform Crime Report should include things
it currently does not on rape. In fact, it is carnal knowledge,
so it is omitting oral rape, anal rape. It is omitting rapes
facilitated by drugs and alcohol. It is omitting when the
victim is unconscious. And, I mean, it is almost ridiculous
what it is omitting. It does not include men. It does not
include homosexual rapes.
Now, let us go on to the victimization study. It does not
include children under the age of 12, and that is a large
category of rapes, about 25 percent. Federal guidelines also
should be issued on how you determine unfounded cases. It is
very definite what is an unfounded case, but we know that
police are essentially calling something as unfounded, which
then, if the person is found to be a serial rapist, it is
harder to prosecute them for the ones that are unfounded
because it is believed that it was baseless or that the victim
was lying. And so this actually compounds the problem.
I believe and we believe that one of the most important
things is Federal guidelines and Federal programs should
encourage the recruitment of women police officers, and there
are many ways of doing it, and also encourage the recruitment
of police officers with specialized training in nursing, social
work, and in dealing with sexual assault.
And, of course, we think that the Violence Against Women
Office should be--the funding should be increased, especially
in the last----
Chairman Specter. How much more time will you need?
Ms. Smeal. I am ending right now. Especially in the last 8
years, funding has been decreased.
So we know many changes should occur, but we have got to
start with changing the definition of rape, which is
contributing to an under-allocation of resources.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Smeal appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Dr. Kilpatrick, you mentioned the issue
of suicide, the only person to do so. Can you amplify your
concerns there? To what extent is that a problem with rape
victims?
Mr. Kilpatrick. Well, women who have been a victim of rape
are about 10 times more likely----
Chairman Specter. Dr. Kilpatrick, I have to turn to
Professor Dempsey. I was so busy reading her background, I left
her out. A very distinguished background.
Ms. Dempsey. Thank you, Senator.
Chairman Specter. Associate professor at Villanova,
University Lecturer in Law and Tutorial Fellow at Oxford
University, tutor at the University College in London, and
teaches courses involving feminist legal theory. We will come
to that, but first your testimony, Professor Dempsey, for 5
minutes.
STATEMENT OF MICHELLE MADDEN DEMPSEY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF
LAW, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, VILLANOVA,
PENNSYLVANIA
Ms. Dempsey. Thank you, Senator Specter, and thank you for
convening this hearing. Going last after so many distinguished
and experienced witnesses leads me to a position where first I
want to say I agree, and I am going to try to say something
that perhaps we have not touched on quite as much.
Before addressing specific issues, however, I wish to place
our discussion into the larger context of the criminal justice
system as a whole. The failure to report and investigate rape
cannot properly be understood in isolation from issues of
failure of prosecutors to charge rape cases and to take them to
trial, failures of juries to convict, and the failure of judges
to impose adequate sentences upon conviction. Each step in the
criminal justice system is directly related to the next:
Survivors will fail to report if they believe their cases will
not be taken seriously by police; police will fail to properly
investigate if they believe prosecutors will not aggressively
pursue charges in court; prosecutors will not aggressively
pursue charges if they believe juries are unlikely to convict.
Moreover, the entire system--and, indeed, the entire culture in
which the system operates--will take rape less seriously when
the sentences passed by judges do not reflect the true gravity
of the offense.
So all of this is to say that the topic of conversation
here, the chronic failure to report and investigate rape, takes
place within a broader culture and a systemic failure not only
of the criminal justice system but of our culture as a whole
surrounding rape.
I will not touch on the issue of victims failing to report
rape because I believe that has adequately been covered. I
would, however, like to discuss the issue of investigation. I
think as Judge Carbon rightly noted, the model that is going on
in Philadelphia right now is a wonderful model, not only
because it increases accountability and it obviously assists
victims to obtain justice, but because it respects the rule of
law. This is a matter of the principle of legality, that the
State should be accountable to the people. And I think what is
going on in Philadelphia is not only outstanding in
Philadelphia--and I am proud to be a Pennsylvanian and
delighted that that is happening--but it is a model for the
rest of the country. I really think that needs to be exported
as aggressively as possible.
With respect to the issue of police misclassifying rape and
other sex crimes as non-crimes, I would like to differentiate
two issues we have discussed here today. One is the question of
the UCR definition of rape, which, as I think we can all agree,
is ridiculous. It is archaic, it is old-fashioned, it is
insulting. And it does not capture the broad majority of rapes.
So that is one issue. Obviously, we are all in agreement and
singing from the same hymn sheet that the UCR definition of
rape needs to be changed.
In addition to that, as I commented in my written
testimony--and I would hope that could be offered into evidence
as well--there are real problems with the handbook of the UCR.
The only illustrations of rape provided are stranger rape and
gang rape. There are no illustrations provided to police to
reflect the reality of acquaintance rape or intimate partner
violence. And that suggests that not only the definition needs
to be changed but that the handbook needs to be rewritten for
this century. So that is one issue, the definition and the
illustrations in the handbook.
There is another issue with respect to coding, and this
comes to the fourth issue we have been asked to consider, which
is the problem of police unfounding rape cases. Now, this is
the problem of coding with the UCR, and quite simply, the UCR
program actually encourages police officers to unfound cases.
It does this by limiting the range of categories available to
police officers in recording case dispositions. There are only
three options available to recording a case disposition under
the UCR program: one is unfounded, which is to say by
definition no crime has occurred; the other is cleared by
arrest, which, again, by definition is to say that an arrest
has been made and the case has been forwarded for prosecution;
and the third option is cleared by exceptional means, which is
by definition circumstances which preclude prosecution, for
example, the death of the defendant or an inability to
extradite the defendant from a foreign jurisdiction.
There are two major problems with the coding under the UCR
that I would like to call to our attention, and I would ask
that perhaps this be added to your letter to the FBI so that
they can take this into consideration as well, and that is,
one, with respect to the issue of clearing a case by
exceptional means, we cannot include the fact that the victim
has withdrawn her cooperation from the case as a reason to
clear a case by exceptional means. Victim non-cooperation in
prosecutions does not legally preclude the State from going
forward. The State prosecutes crime, not the victims. The UCR
sends exactly the opposite message to local law enforcement by
allowing that to be one of the ways in which a case can be
cleared.
Secondly, I think it is worth considering the possibility
of adding a third way of disposing of a case, adding a case
disposition which reflects that the case is founded but was
rejected for prosecution based on inadequate evidence.
Now, I think that is something that is worth further
debate, but I think that the problem with unfounding cases is
not only a problem of police misconduct but is also a problem
of the structure of the UCR program in the way that it
encourages officers to unfound cases in order to clear them.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Dempsey appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Specter. Thank you, Professor Dempsey.
Dr. Kilpatrick, I was on the question of suicide, and the
question to you is: To what extent is that a problem for rape
victims?
Mr. Kilpatrick. Well, it is difficult to look at completed
suicides in the type of research that we do because we are
talking to people, you know, who are still alive. But if you
look at attempted suicide, you know, in both of the studies
that we have done with national probability----
Chairman Specter. Well, how about a correlation between
people who commit suicide and those who have been rape victims?
Mr. Kilpatrick. Well, unfortunately, most rape goes
undetected for the reasons that we have talked about today so
that we do not know about a lot of women----
Chairman Specter. Well, how about the rapes which are
detected? Is there any sequence, if not a causal connection?
Mr. Kilpatrick. Well, people who have post-traumatic stress
disorder, as the military is finding out, are more likely to
make suicide attempts. Rape victims are much more likely to
make suicide attempts than comparable women who have not been
raped. And so it is a huge risk factor. My professional opinion
as a clinical psychologist is that there is some correlation
there, and that----
Chairman Specter. Ms. Smeal, you talk about changing the
culture. How do you do that, the culture of police departments?
Ms. Smeal. One, I think that you change the educational
requirements, and I do think that people who are trained in
sexual assault, who are social workers, nurses, people who----
Chairman Specter. How do you do that with police budgets?
Ms. Smeal. Well, unfortunately, social workers do not get
paid that much, do they? So I do not think it would hurt the--
--
Chairman Specter. You are talking about education.
Ms. Smeal. Oh, well, what I mean is that, as I said, a
graduate of a social work class does not get paid that much.
But I also think increasing the percentage of women----
Chairman Specter. How do you influence----
Ms. Smeal.--is imperative.
Chairman Specter.--police culture along the line you
suggest? You talk about social workers, and is that realistic,
given police department budgets?
Ms. Smeal. Yes, I do. I think it is very realistic, because
I do not think the average social worker in the United States
even makes as much as the average police officer today. And I
also think that we have to do something about recruiting more
women into policing. We in the women's rights movement have
been suing, as have individual women, with the pervasive
patterns of sex discrimination in policing for 40 years, and we
are still only--what is it?--12 percent of police officers of
the United States.
Chairman Specter. A couple more questions. Mr. Berkowitz--
sorry to move on, but----
Ms. Smeal. Sure, I understand.
Chairman Specter.--time is very limited.
What would your recommendation be about trying to get more
sensitivity with the interviewers, the police officers? How do
we do that in a practical sense given the limitations of police
budgets and it is so difficult to recruit people who have a
vast educational background in this kind of matter?
Mr. Berkowitz. I think the training already exists. I think
that a lot of police departments have made tremendous progress
on that and have implemented good training and improved the way
they handle this. There is a lot of existing training that the
International Association of Chiefs of Police and others offer.
Chairman Specter. Professor Dempsey, I note among your
courses, you teach feminist legal theory. What is feminist
legal theory?
Ms. Dempsey. You should come to my class. We would be
honored to have you. It is one of the main issues we discuss.
The way that we----
Chairman Specter. Do you meet on weekends?
[Laughter.]
Ms. Dempsey. We would have a special session if you wanted
to attend. It is a question of basically evaluating existing
law, legal doctrine, not only the positive law on the books, as
we say, but also law in the broader sense, the things that we
should see to when organizing our world, whether it has been
made part of positive law or not. So we both evaluate existing
laws, and consider normative arguments for improving those laws
from a feminist point of view.
Chairman Specter. What would your advice be to women's
organizations to persuade police commissioners, other than
Commissioner Ramsey, to allow for transparency and allow for
stakeholders to be involved in reviewing these cases?
Ms. Dempsey. I think there needs to be a context in which
these people can sit down together. I think that literally just
being in the same room and talking face to face begins to break
down some of the myths that each side holds against the other.
I am an unusual bird because I am both a feminist activist
and a former prosecutor, and I married a police officer. So I
know you can bring these groups together, and they can--in my
own experience as a prosecutor, we were very successful in
getting the police on board with more aggressive domestic
violence and sexual assault charging and prosecution simply
because we took the time to meet together and sat down and
talked about our concerns and educated the advocates regarding
the law and educated the lawyers and the police officers
regarding the advocates' concerns.
Chairman Specter. Thank you very much, Dr. Kilpatrick, Mr.
Berkowitz, Ms. Smeal, Professor Dempsey.
This is a subject of enormous importance, and I regret that
we have not had more time today to do it justice. We have not
begun to scratch the surface. We had very distinguished panels.
It is insufficient to say you have 5 minutes, insufficient
totally. Senators interrupt because we only have a few minutes
to question you, but that happens to Supreme Court nominees as
well as you folks here today. It happens to everybody.
It is my hope that we will stimulate some interest by
police departments in this subject. There are a couple of
things we can do. I think we can get the FBI to change its
definition. We can get the FBI to change its survey. We have
oversight on the FBI from this Committee, and I think the
Director will respond.
There is a lot more to rape than is in that FBI definition.
It totally eliminates the issue of what is going on in jails
today across the country on same-sex rape. And the issue of
training, it would be good to get some Federal funding
incentives to police departments. I commend what you have done,
Commissioner Ramsey, and I would like to see more police
departments do what you do, and I would like to see more
women's organizations knocking on the doors--knock on their
doors. Knock on their doors. And if they do not respond, knock
on the mayor's door. And you do not have to knock on my door.
You can just tap on it.
Thank you all very much.
[Whereupon, at 4:17 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
[Questions and answers and submissions for the the record
follow.]
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