Hidden Rapes: The Stories Behind the Numbers

[This article is adapted from a presentation by Mark Fazlollah, reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, during the BJS/JRSA National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 2-3, 2000.]

For the past two years, I've worked on articles about Philadelphia's flawed crime reporting that document how Philadelphia police failed to investigate hundreds of rape complaints. They hid thousands of other crimes and made Philadelphia look safer than it really was.

Eleven-year-old Jesine Williams finally forced Philadelphia police to change some terrible practices. This morning, I'd like to talk about Jesine and other Philadelphia crime victims. Maybe their stories can help us understand a problem that is far bigger than Philadelphia.

Jesine was playing in the snow outside her babysitter's house when a man dragged her into his car, drove her to a deserted park, and assaulted her. Police labeled Jesine's rape as a "2701," a Philadelphia police code for a service call. The police officer on the scene insisted Jesine's case was only an incident of a lost child. Jesine told police the nickname of the man she believed was the rapist. Her mother gave police the man's full name and address. The police didn't even question him. They left a business card at the man's house. That was the end of the investigation for four years.

During those four years, Jesine saw the man repeatedly. Her mother called police again and again, but the man was not arrested. Police reopened their investigation the day we published an article about Jesine in the Inquirer. They arrested the man Jesine identified in 1996, and they were able to get a DNA match linking him to the rape.

Philadelphia police now acknowledge that over the last five years the department's rape squad had wrongly shelved about 400 cases a year with the 2701 code. That is 2,000 cases. They included some very difficult cases that the rape squad did not want to tackle- difficult cases, but not impossible. After The Inquirer put a spotlight on the Philadelphia rape squad, the city police reopened the 2,000 cases. The investigations are still underway, but police have already made 46 arrests from cases dating to 1995 including Jasper Washington, the man now in jail for Jesine's rape. Many of the new arrests also involve the rape of children.

Philadelphia is not alone in using 2701-type codes for sexual assault. The Phoenix rape squad, for example, uses what it calls an "information only" report. Those cases tend to be tough cases, the ones detectives just cannot sort out. A former Phoenix sex crimes supervisor said about a third of his city's sexual assault complaints were classified as "information only." Other cities have other names.

Here are some keys to detecting a problem. First, look at the overall rape rate in your area. Take New York. Since we are in Minneapolis, let's use this city as a yardstick for comparison. Uniform Crime Reporting statistics for 1999 show Minneapolis reports five times more rapes per capita than New York. It's been that way for years. It cannot be true.

If cities in your state report rape rates dramatically lower than national norms, that is a sign that you should ask questions. Minneapolis, for example, has some rape counseling centers that are considered to be among the best in the nation. It has a counseling center that specifically works with prostitutes. That may help push the numbers up because women are willing to report.

And New York? Philadelphia Commissioner Timoney, who previously served as a top commander in New York, provides this tidbit. His old department had a code known as "information aided," or more commonly, just "aided." All types of ambiguous cases were shelved there. Timoney made it clear that the "aided" category did not mean that friendly New York street cops had helped some tourists with information. It included, among other things, ambiguous sexual assault complaints. Last year, New York reported a remarkable 17% reduction in rapes, the biggest drop in recent memory. But New York's UCR report does not mention anything about "aided" cases.

What may account for the unusually low numbers in other cities? Nationally, police departments say about 10% of all rape reports are lies, or "unfounded." In 1998, Philadelphia reported that 18% of all rape reports were "unfounded." After we wrote a story noting that Philadelphia's rate was high, the police commission began to review "unfounded" rape reports. And in 1999, Philadelphia's "unfounded" rate dropped to 10%-exactly the national average. But departments that report extraordinarily low rates of "unfounded" may be fiddling with the numbers, too.

Houston "unfounds" only a half percent of all rape reports. But if Houston police do not think a rape complaint is really a crime, they do not need to write up a formal police report. A lot of police departments do not even bother to report information on unfounded cases. And if state agencies don't press for reporting, there is no way to detect problems.

Here is another Philadelphia story. We published an article about a woman, Grace Roman, who was sexually assaulted when she was jogging at night in a large Philadelphia park. She was 29 when the attack occurred in 1995. The attacker dragged Grace into the bushes, pulled off his shirt and started to rip off Grace's jogging suit. Because it was a one-piece jogging suit, it was not easy to remove. Then the attacker was frightened away by another jogger.

Grace Roman has always said the man was trying to rape her. But police labeled the attack as a Part 2 sex crime, not a serious crime-as far as UCR was concerned. Look at Grace's picture. Her demeanor changed when we reached the site of the crime. Our picture shows her covering her face with her hands. This was not a staged photo. Repeatedly when we went with victims to the crime scenes, there was this type of reaction.

It is not difficult to find cases that fit the pattern of Grace Roman's attack. Look for the ratio of attempted rapes to completed rapes. Nationally, one in every nine rapes is an attempt. The other eight are completed. UCR rules count both attempts and "completed" ones as rapes.

In San Antonio last year, only one in every 27 rapes was an attempt. It was one in every 33 the year before that. In all of the other attacks, the rapist was successful. It's been that way for years. I cannot resist asking whether this is just because Texas men are so much more successful at everything they do.

By insisting that the intention of an attacker was not to rape but rather to molest, police can lower the count. Some large police departments do not bother to report any attempted rapes. And if state agencies do not press for better reporting, it is impossible to detect problems.

Also look carefully at clearance rates. When Philadelphia was hiding rape reports wholesale, our clearance rate hit an astounding 80%. Police dumped tough cases into the 2701 code or declared them "unfounded."

Long ago, Kansas City, Missouri, reported spectacular clearance rates. Former rape squad detectives can tell you why. If a woman said she was raped but could not provide a description of the rapist, police would ask her to pick a mug shot, any mug shot, of a man she thought the rapist could resemble. This became an identified suspect. Detectives then would warn the woman that she would face vicious questioning in court from a defense lawyer if she wanted to prosecute. When the woman said she did not want to take anyone to court, Kansas City declared the case cleared.

One way to spot a problem is to compare the number of arrests to the number of clearances. Nationally half of all rapes are cleared and there is one arrest for every three rapes. Take Oklahoma City, however. It consistently had clearance rates over 75% for rape but made only one arrest for every seven rapes. (Capt. Pat Byrne, who oversees the Oklahoma City police rape squad, said the unit suffered from understaffing, insufficient training and low motivation. Byrne said the squad has been increased to 15 detectives. Two years ago, there were only eight. "We knew there was a problem and they are working toward fixing it," Byrne said about his department's low arrest rate.)

We don't have to go across the nation to see problems. Just go across the river from Minneapolis and you will find some very strange reporting in Saint Paul. Throughout much of the 1990s, Saint Paul reported clearance rates for rape between 90% and 100%. But year after year, Saint Paul's arrest rate was far below the national average. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety recently tried to get Saint Paul to change. So far, Saint Paul continues to report its spectacular clearance rates. Last year, it cleared 108% of its rapes. There were 200 rapes and 215 clearances. But again, Saint Paul's arrest rate was miserable. For the year 2000, Saint Paul reports wonderful clearance. In the first six months of the year, there were 107 rapes and 107 cleared. Saint Paul hasn't given out its figures for arrests yet.

There are many reasons for the statistical maneuvering. One reason, of course, is because police brass and politicians want their cities to look safe. Sometimes they use a pencil eraser, but the downgrading of rapes has a special component. Police departments historically have been men's clubs. Feminists thought they won the battle years ago for a new sensitivity for rape victims. In fact, the old attitudes are still strong.

But the problems also occur because of staffing shortages. In Phoenix, there were eight detectives assigned to the sex crimes unit in the 1980s. The population of Phoenix has increased by more than 60% since 1980. There are still only eight detectives in the rape squad.

Let me sum up by saying that some very bad police work is hidden in some cities because of statistical maneuvering and manipulation of crime data. If you can stop the fudging of statistics, you can help force departments to make real improvements. And that is extremely important.

Note: As a result of Mr. Fazlollah's speech in Minneapolis, the Saint Paul Police Department says it will revamp its policy on rape clearances. There will be no more 108% clearance rates. The real clearance rate, the department spokesman says, was 52.5%.