University Daily Kansan / Thursday, April 30, 1992
9
Fears, doubts prevent women from reporting rape to police
Continued from Page 1
They are reluctant to get medical attention, afraid people will find out what happened to them.
But it is not just the fear of being exposed that keeps a rape victim sick.
"There is also the dread of repeating," she said. "They know they'll have to explain and keep telling the story. They take a self-protective stance immediately."
"There is also the dread of repeating. They know they'll have to explain and keep telling the story. They take a self-protective stance immediately."
Jody Woods, nurse practitioner at Watkins, estimated that she saw about 10 women a semester that either tell her they were raped or have signs that an assault occurred.
Sarah Russell
Director of Douglas County Rape Victim Support Services
Doctors only report cases if the woman chooses to report to police or if the assailant was armed with a weapon such as a knife.
Other victims come in and tell
wode right away that they want to
remain in the house.
"There are women who come in for physicals and tell what happened, but are not interested in reporting," Woods said.
"The largest number of women come in and tell you a fib just to get from one step to the next," she said. "They might complain about vaginal bleeding or pain, but they have bruises or tears or you can see fingerprints on their inner thigh."
Women may wait two, three or 30 days tocome up for physics shesaid.
She has done three rape kits this school year, and all the women filed reports with police. However, none of them pressed charges, and all of them have left KU.
"If they are not going to report, I don't even bother with the rape kit," she said. "But, if they want to report, we want to give it the best shot. Then I open the rape kit. It's a tough situation they have to go through."
The exam is degrading.
Woods understands women's reluctance to report because the process begins with the examination. Most women who have undergone further intrusion on or into their bodies.
In Lawrence, a women could go to the Lawrence or KU police, Support Services or other counseling centers, Watkins or Lawrence Memorial. Only cases reported to police are kept as crime statistics.
The record of legal cases at KU is a short one.
Burdel Welsh, KU police representative, said three rapes were reported during the fall semester and none this
semester. One was unfounded or dismissed because of lack of evidence. The other two were acquaintance rapes.
A reported rape does not mean legal action is taken.
The two acquaintance rapes were not prosecuted by the choice of the victims.
"A lot of people are not reporting, not to police and not to counseling centers." he said. "We know that."
Even when cases are recorded with counselors or doctors, most of that information never is compiled or leaving those cases virtually invisible.
When alcohol or drugs are involved, or the rape or attempted rape involved in acquaintance, women are even likely to try to hide the experience.
Researchers say the only way to grasp the number of raps is to randomly women. They suspect that cases still escape these methods.
All of the cases Woods has seen at Watkins involved alcohol.
Phelps said, "They are embarrassed about the details of thrape like if they were taking drugs or they left a bar with the guy or they were drunk."
In a KU survey on sexual violence conducted by the division of student affairs research committee and released in February, 93 percent of the men and women surveyed named alcohol as one of the biggest factors contributing to rape on this campus.
Acquaintance rape is more likely on college campuses. Phelps said.
In the KU survey, 95.6 percent of the women who said they were raped indicated that they knew their attacker.
"When the rape occurs between dating partners, when there is prior consent to sexual intimacy and when minimal violence is involved, these women are reluctant to report," she said. "Women don't want to get the man they know in trouble — especially if it's a boyfriend."
Although there are places in Lawrence that will help rape victims with their experience and assist them through the reporting process, some KU students still are not reporting in any way.
Whether they are afraid of being called a liar, afraid to get a rapa-kit examination or afraid that they cannot handle retelling their story again and again, they are shying away from the legal system.
As few cases officially are reported, researchers, counselors, police and others struggle to grasp the extent of risk for exposure by using only precaution and estimates.
And many rape victims remain invisible.
Survey: few rapes are reported
According to a study released yesterday, 84 percent of rape victims did not report the incident to the police. Over 12 million U.S. women said they had been raped.
Most rapes not reported Percentage of all rape victims reporting crime to police
Victim's age at time of rape Percent out of 714 cases
SOURCE: National Victim Center and the Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
Most rapes committed by acquaintances
Acquaintance 29%
Other relatives 16%]
Father/stepfather 11%
Boyfriend/ex-boyfriend
Not sure/refused to answer
3%
FBI, Justice Department estimates lower Estimated number of ranes in 1990
National Women's Study 683,000
Justice Department 130,000
FBI Uniform Crime Report
102,560
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