Sexual assault is dangerously common on college campuses, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), a national anti-sexual assault organization.
It’s also commonly underreported.
RAINN estimates 68 percent of sexual assaults occurring in the country go unreported to law enforcement. Only 7 percent of sexual assaults result in an arrest and about 2 percent result in a felony conviction.
These numbers are part of the reason universities should investigate reports of sexual assault involving university students, faculty or staff, said Sirena Cantrell, dean of students and Title IX Coordinator for the Mississippi University for Women.
“If (people reporting sexual assault) can only go to the police, that can be intimidating,” Cantrell said.
There could be many reasons someone wouldn’t want to report their assault to law enforcement and would prefer to report to a university, said Keenyn Wald, a counselor for Community Counseling Services in Columbus. One of those reasons is victim blaming.
Survivors of sexual assault are frequently blamed for whatever happened to them when they report the crime, Wald said.
“Frankly, society is not very kind to victims of rape,” Wald said. “It’s all about what you did wrong, rather than an actual perpetrator. It’s like blaming the store for getting robbed.”
That public criticism could be what keep many people from going to the police, though Wald said there could be many other reasons.
Victim blaming once again became a national issue last week after a California judge sentenced a former Stanford swimmer to only six months in prison and three years probation after the swimmer was convicted of three felonies involving rape. The swimmer had been caught in the act of raping an unconscious woman behind a dumpster on campus. The victim in the case said that during the case and the trial she had been asked what she was wearing and how much she had to drink the night of the rape. She said she was told she couldn’t prove she hadn’t consented since she couldn’t remember what happened.
While Wald said he hopes individuals sexually assaulted will report the assault to law enforcement, he stressed it is always the victim’s decision whether to do so.
Dorothy Givens is a victim’s advocate at the Columbus Police Department. She said she thinks privacy is what keep many victims from going to law enforcement. Sexual assault is traumatic experience many people do not want to talk about with strangers, much less in court, she said.
“A lot of times the victim blames themselves,” Givens said. “That’s one of the reasons they don’t report it — embarrassment.”
Law enforcement agencies have resources universities don’t, Givens said. In rape cases, they can compare DNA samples obtained from rape kits to databases of information, she said, and law enforcement agents can also get warrants.
People experiencing harassment or sexual assault can even go to the law enforcement before things escalate, she said, so the police have reports of the attacker having already made inappropriate advances.
“You want a paper trail,” Givens said.
Survivors of sexual assault can still make reports to the police months or years after the attack has occurred, she said, but it’s better for individuals who want to file a report to do so immediately. From a practical standpoint, police can get DNA evidence from an assault right after the attack takes place. It’s also good for university students to go to the police because police aren’t as likely as some universities may be to protect athletes or professors who assault students, she said.
“(Police) are better equipped to handle these cases, because we do know that universities want to cover up (crimes sometimes),” Givens said.
Still, Cantrell said it’s important that students can go to their universities instead of, or in addition to, going to the police.
“I think having the (university investigation) process in place gives students … that option,” Cantrell said.
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