Blaming rape victims in the USA

This video, from Wales, says about itself:

Is it possible that a woman who drinks, dances and flirts, ALL in a short skirt, is doing it for her own enjoyment? Rape. Sexual assault. Let’s STOP blaming the victim.

For more information and support visit http://www.stopblame.org or call the helpline on 0808 80 10 800.

If a woman gets raped in the United Arab Emirates, then she may get arrested. If a woman gets raped in Afghanistan, then she may be jailed. If a girl gets raped in the Maldives, then authorities may have her whipped. If a woman soldier gets raped in the United States armed forces, then she may be persecuted. In Somalia, police may rape a woman, and then jail her.

The problem is more widespread.

By Rebecca Leber in the USA:

Until Last Week, The Official Policy Of One Virginia City Was To Assume All Rape Victims Were Lying

August 13, 2013 at 11:18 am

Until last week, Norfolk, Virginia police classified sexual assault claims to be “unfounded” — or not valid — by default. According to the Virginian-Pilot, a 22-year-old woman’s case prompted Norfolk police chief Mike Goldsmith to update the policy so that officers must now assume rape victims are telling the truth.

The woman reported the attack immediately to police, only to be told, “If we find out that you’re lying, this will be a felony charge.” Before giving her a medical examination, officers subjected the woman to interrogations during which they said things like, “You’re telling us a different story than you told … the other detectives,” and “This only happened hours ago. Why can’t you remember?” Having had enough, the woman cut off the interview.

The police eventually arrested and charged the attacker for multiple other sexual assaults and felonies, and Goldsmith apologized for mishandling the woman’s initial allegations. Now that Goldsmith has updated the policy for handling sexual assault cases, the department will also undergo training for post-traumatic stress disorder and rape trauma.

Many other areas have this same problem. In light of a Baltimore investigation on the city’s high number of unfounded cases, the Police Executive Research Forum noted, “Unwarranted ‘unfounding’ of cases can result in offenders remaining free — and in victims losing trust in the justice system.” This classification also leads to lower reports of rape, because “unfounded” cases are not included in crime stats.

For law enforcement to assume that rape victims are usually lying is a gross misunderstanding of the number of false rape accusations. Only two to eight percent of reported rapes are false reports, and even fewer ever include a specific false accusation. In fact, the real problem is that most rapes go unreported.

Nearly one in four young men in Scotland still blame rape victims for drinking or dressing “provocatively,” alarming new research found today: here.

U.S. THREATENS TO VETO UN SUPPORT OF RAPE VICTIMS The U.S. is reportedly threatening to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at preventing the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and terrorism. The proposal includes promises to provide reproductive and sexual health support to survivors of rape in conflict — and the U.S. is reportedly having none of it. [HuffPost]

Related articles

• Police change sexual assault policy (wavy.com)
• Virginia city’s rape policy was ‘Assume the victim is lying’ until last week (rawstory.com)
• Victim’s ordeal prompts sex assault policy shift (hamptonroads.com)
• Norfolk rape victim speaks out on investigation (hamptonroads.com)
• Rape: a burning injustice (theguardian.com)
• When rape is a ‘personal injury’ (dailykos.com)