Handling Sexual Assault on Campus: Let the Police Handle It

The problem of rape on campus is not new, but it's receiving lots of attention lately thanks to renewed focus on Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972. (See here.)  This provision of the federal law —  "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal Assistance" — puts the spotlight on how colleges and universities investigate claims of rape by their students. 

Because of the stipulations of Title IX, students are given the option of either reporting the rape to the police or university officials. To quote an article in the New York Times, “The great majority... choose their school, because of the expectation of anonymity and the belief that administrators will offer the sort of support that the police will not.” (Bogdanich, 2014).

New York Times coverage of one rape incident, and the university's handling of it, is here. Particularly cringe-worthy is the description of the university committee assembled to talk with the victim in a hearing of sorts: “The chairwoman, Sandra E. Bissell, vice president of human resources, was joined by Brien Ashdown, an assistant professor of psychology, and Lucille Smart, director of the campus bookstore, who the school said had expressed an interest in serving.” (Bogdanich, 2014)

The campus bookstore director? Seriously??

Would this be the same procedure if it were a robbery or murder? A campus committee of university staff, maybe a student rep, and a professor trying to get tenure would meet — but only from October through June — to pose a bunch of intrusive questions to victims. Since they wouldn't meet in a police station or courtroom, then where? A classroom? Department conference room? Maybe one that doubles as the copy room so various people can wander in and out during the 'hearing'? For those students unfortunate enough to be assaulted in late spring, the committee might not convene again until the following fall, since most faculty don't do service work over the summer. The worst penalty the accused attacker might face, if found guilty, might be dismissal from school. Not a felony conviction and all the subsequent consequences that brings with it, such as registering with local police as a sex offender.... Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

Not that the police always do everything perfectly, but rape investigations have come a long way over the years. Rape is a crime unlike other offenses in that it often comes down to he-said, she-said. (Or: she-said, he-said; or he-said, he-said. Not all victims are female, nor perpetrators male.) Yes, there's other evidence, but it can present problems. The presence of male fluids is evidence that sex occurred, not necessarily rape. Something like video evidence would be good, if it existed. That's not always the case. Rape victims may also delay reporting the assault, for a variety of reasons (e.g., being severely traumatized, fear of retaliation if they know the attacker). 

Historically, police and prosecutors treated rape complainants from the beginning as if they might be lying or stretching the truth. This was unlike the response for other crimes – robbery or burglary, for instance. A robbery victim could expect to file a complaint and be taken at face value, assumed to be telling the truth. By contrast, a rape victim would be assumed to not be telling the truth. Types of responses – from the police and the accused – were that it was a simple misunderstanding; that sex happened, but it was consensual; that it never happened and she made it up altogether. In the case of husbands raping wives, well… that can’t happen. Men are entitled to their wives bodies. (Wrong. Marital rape was first outlawed in South Dakota in the mid-1970s, and is now against the law in all states. Yes, ALL states.)

The result? Victims ended up feeling revictimized by the system that’s supposed to help and protect them, supposed to get them justice, supposed to get the rapist off the street before he attacks anyone else.

Things have improved over the years, largely because of the rise of the Victims Rights movement beginning in the 1970s. Rape has (mostly) come to be viewed for what it is – a crime of violence where the victim was stripped of their right to consent. It’s not passion gone awry. It causes injury and post-traumatic stress for the victim. Trouble sleeping, nightmares, suicidal thoughts, deep depression, terror at the thought of leaving the house – those are the after-effects of being raped, NOT having consensual sex.

Not that false accusations don’t happen. They do. But that shouldn’t be the default assumption when a victim reports being raped. The default response should be to believe them.

I teach a Crime Victims course at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and devote one to two classes to covering sexual assault. Even after all these years, it’s still the material that makes me the most nervous. Why? Because I assume that at least one or two (or more) students in the class have been sexually assaulted. Indeed, I’ve heard some very sad ‘confessions’ post-lecture (including about being gang-raped as a teenager).

I’ve also heard some rather dumb comments. As one student – who it seemed always liked to try and say something controversial – began, ‘So, if a man comes home after work and wants to have… you know, relations with his wife, but she’s too tired, can he—‘. At that point, I cut him off with the simple explanation that marital rape is against the law, like any other type of rape. Period. For the record, I’ve also been asked this question by a female student, although more generically. (‘What about between a husband and wife?’)

Getting back to my original point, while the police may not always do everything perfectly, they certainly have more training in handling rape victims than, say, the manager of a college bookstore so that the victim doesn’t end up feeling revictimized. Colleges should do what colleges do best: provide education. And they should let the police do what they do: investigate crime.

References:

Bogdanich, W. (2014). "Reporting rape, and wishing she hadn't." New York Times, July 12. Downloadable from  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/us/how-one-college-handled-a-sexual-assault-complaint.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article.

Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972. Downloadable from http://www.dol.gov/oasam/regs/statutes/titleix.htm