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THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
CRIME
Law professor reveals hidden US rape crisis
ITOM DEHART
TOM DEHART
name@kansan.com
On March 4, University Associate Law Professor Corey Rayburn Yung, published an article in the Iowa Law Review entitled "How to Lie with Rape Statistics: America's Hidden Rape Crisis."
The article analyzes the undercounting of rape statistics in 46 cities in the U.S. with a population of more than 100,000 people, estimating that about 800,000 to 1.2 million "complaints of forcible vaginal rapes of female victims nationwide disappeared from the official records from 1995 and 2012."
The population of Lawrence was not large enough for it to meet Yung's criteria for his study, but he said in an interview that nothing in his study indicated that Lawrence, or anywhere in Kansas, has been involved in undercounting of statistics.
Yung's study found that Kansas City, Mo., was one of the 46 cities likely to substantially undercount reports of rape. Topeka and Wichita were also included in the study, but did not have any instances in substantially undercounting rape.
Sgt. Trent McKinley, the Lawrence Police Department public affairs officer, said that the number of rape crimes reported to the Lawrence Police Department by victims is lower because of the personal nature that is sometimes present between the offender and the victim. McKinley also stated that being intoxicated eliminates, by law, the ability for consent to be made between individuals.
"I think when it comes to a stranger that would, say, grab someone off the street and rape them. I think the likelihood of those type of incidents being reported are higher than some of the other types of situations," McKinley said. "Whether it be a dating type of thing, potentially even a marriage type of thing."
According to the Uniform Crime Reporting statistics filed on the City of Lawrence's website, a total of 130 reports
of sexual assaults: 54 rapes, 13 incidents of forcible sodomy, 56 incidents of forcible fondling, and 7 incidents of statutory rape were reported in the year 2012.
This undercounting of statistics affects the data that the FBI uses annually to generate the Uniform Crime Reporting statistics.
According to Yung, these cities that are responsible for the undercounting of cases used three methods to remove complaints that are difficult to detect. These three methods include designating a complaint as "unfounded" with little or no investigation, classifying an incident as a lesser offense, and failing to create a written report that a victim made a complaint.
"I think when it comes to a stranger that would ... grab someone off the street and rape them. I think the likelihood of those ... incidents being reported are higher."
TRENT MCKINLEY
Public affairs officer
"These three methods can be implemented consciously if the police want to respond to public and political pressure towards decreasing violent crimes," Yung said. "So they just would manipulate the numbers or encourage this practice, and in fact that seemed to be true in those departments and in other departments across the country [that] had been caught in the past doing this."
Yung said that these methods can also occur on a subconscious level as a result of departments being hostile toward rape complaints, who may try to discourage the reports from being filed.
"These practices are certainly due to a variety of reasons, and we don't necessarily know with any given city what the overriding motivation is, but the effect is the same, which is the cases don't get investigated and the rapes aren't counted in our official violent crime statistics;" Yung said.
Yung writes in his article that in one of the more extreme cases in Cleveland the dismissal of rape complaints "demonstrated the real danger from undercounting" when police discovered 11 decomposing bodies in the home of Anthony Sowell, a serial rapist and murderer, after following up on these reports after the third complaint.
"The previous complaints — even one that said they saw a severed head in the bathroom, and had wounds from their escape from this house — didn't trigger an investigation because the police designated the complaints 'unfounded,' Yung said. "And so the result was, that when they finally went to his house, they discovered — you know — a dozen decomposing bodies. And this meant that he continued his crimes after the initial complaint was made, and we don't know how many people may or may not have survived had the police acted sooner."
Edited by Alec Weaver
KEY POINTS
Associate Law Professor Corey Rayburn Yung published an article in the Iowa Law Review exploring America's the undercounting of rape cases in Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics
Media outlets in cities including Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and St. Louis initially exposed this elimination of official rape statistics.
The city of Lawrence's population did not meet Yung's criteria to be examined, but Yung stated his study does not indicate undercounting occurring in Kansas.
Sgt. Trent Mckinley, the public affairs officer for the Lawrence Police Department said that he expects the number of complaints that are brought forth by victims to be significantly less than incidents that actually occur. Services for victims of sexual violence in Lawrence include the Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity as well as the GaDuGi SafeCenter.
MOVIE REVIEW
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS
Characters and plot fail to impress in 'Need for Speed'
"Need for Speed" accelerates to some truly pulse-pounding races, chases and crashes during its 130 minute runtime, but the momentum comes to a screeching halt because of its plodding narrative plotting.
For an over-the-top car racing movie based on a franchise of essentially storyless video games, there sure is an awful lot of time spent trying to get viewers invested in the story and characters. So much so that it takes away enjoyment from what the audience actually cares about: the high-octane car action.
Not even Aaron Paul from "Breaking Bad" can bring much interest to the non-vehicular side of the film. Poor lesse can't catch a break
Paul plays Tobey Marshall, a renowned street racer with a vendetta against his old rival and racing champion Dino Brewster (Dominic Cooper), who framed him for a crime he didn't commit. To get revenge, Tobey plans to expose Dino after defeating him in the De Leon, a secret high-stakes race in California. So he gets his old crew back together, brings along a car-savvy babe (Imogen Poots) and begins the cross-country trip to reach California in 48 hours, evading police.
Sounds simple enough, but first-time screenwriter George Gatins can't keep the narrative moving at the same pace of the cars. It's slowed down by tons of plot holes and
overlong plot developments, hollow characters (Tobey's traffic-watching pilot friend being the worst offender, occasionally delivering some laughs but mainly annoying as the "lively black guy" stereotype) and strong disregard for reality. Not that this kind of movie should try to be all that realistic, but when it takes itself too seriously, it's much harder to forgive the ridiculous elements and relish the entertainment.
At least "Need for Speed" starts off well and the stunts do impress. The first two races exhilarate, showcasing the awesome 3D and using moving camera zooms to fantastic effect. Zoom techniques are employed throughout, and they do wonders to enhance the intensity. Paul even manages solid mileage as the quiet bad boy charmer, at first.
But when his quest for revenge begins,he's a bit too earnest,a little lacking in playful charisma and not particularly compelling. The soft and saccharine score rarely works,but it especially detracts from Paul's performance in more reflective moments.He
maintains the drama when he's up against Cooper, who plays the villain with some contemptible class but little else to hang on to, yet Paul doesn't bring much energy to the character the majority of the time he's in the car.
Poots, on the other hand, outshines Paul. She's smart, determined and in over her head, and she has a disarming appeal that grows during the drive. Their chemistry strengthens as they become more vulnerable, although Poots brings more life to her character.
While the whole film is building up to the De Leon race, by the time it actually arrives, you don't care anymore. Director Scott Waugh has a terrific grasp of intense action, which he proved in his previous movie, "Act of Valor." Nearly all of the stunts were done practically here, with real cars and little CGI. It definitely shows.
But too much car action without enough differentiation in the sequences becomes tiresome. Especially when it keeps getting interrupted by a story that's always riding the brakes. "Need for Speed" is like watching a car chase live on TV, complete with all the daring moments of high speed maneuvers and the boring segments driving in a straight line forever.
Edited by Julie Etzler
KANSAN COMICS
Presented by: Jayhawk Buddy System
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