Few victims go to police, senators told
Senators on Tuesday grappled with the thorny issue of why so few campus sexual assault victims go to police.
Some victims have said they prefer to work within their university system to seek disciplinary action against the perpetrator, such as expulsion, without the stress of pressing criminal charges.
But there have been complaints that universities have encouraged victims not to seek criminal action because they want to protect the university’s reputation or that schools aren’t prepared to adequately adjudicate such cases.
“I am concerned that law enforcement is being marginalized when it comes to the crime of campus sexual assault,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., the subcommittee chairman, at a hearing on the issue. “I’m concerned that the specter of flawed law enforcement overshadows the harm of marginalized law enforcement.”
The hearing, focused on the relationship between police departments and campuses, comes after a high-profile Rolling Stone article that described a gang rape alleged to have occurred in a fraternity house at the University of Virginia. The magazine later acknowledged mistakes in its reporting.
In many cases, victims aren’t told they can pursue a criminal case, testified Peg Langhammer, executive director of the Day One organization in Providence, R.I.
Whitehouse said victims are victimized again if they are steered away from law enforcement based on uninformed choices. Whitehouse, a former U.S. attorney and attorney general in his home state, said evidence shows that most men who commit these crimes are serial offenders — and a threat to public safety. He said students have a right to know that delays opening an investigation and collecting evidence can make the case difficult to prove later.
On campuses, there’s often no clearly identified place for a victim to seek help, testified Angela Fleischer, assistant director of student support and intervention for confidential advising at Southern Oregon University, which links law enforcement and campus administrators in cases of sexual assault.
While some victims do immediately call the police or go directly to a hospital for an exam, others seek out a friend, family member or trusted person on campus and it’s not immediate that they process what happened, Fleischer said after the hearing.
“Sometimes victims and survivors aren’t calling what happened to them rape,” Fleischer said. “They know something bad happened, something they were displeased with, but they aren’t always thinking a crime of rape was committed against me.”
She stressed the importance of close coordination between the campus and local police and said reporting of campus sexual assaults has increased since the school began working with law enforcement to make it a “viable, victim-centered option.” ..Source.. by KIMBERLY HEFLING
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