"What would survivors do without police?"

thrive? endure less trauma? actually have a shot at justice?

July 04, 2020

Whether you believe it’s “good” messaging or not, “defund police” is officially a part of our political lexicon. As an antirape feminist, I believe defunding—and eventually abolishing—is integral to a rape-free world.

Rape victims are often ignored—or if we come forward we are subjected to ridicule, scrutiny, and other devastating types of retaliation. When it comes to treating individual rape victims well, most people fail to rise to the occasion. But if there’s an argument to win, concern for figurative rape victims quickly make an appearance!

I’m used to people with good intentions believing that the police actually care about rape, but seeing a police union director actively pretending that they case made my blood boil. Most victims never report their rapists—and few rapists who are reported are rarely arrested. Our society says the legal system is the arbiter of justice, but that’s just not true for rape victims. As Rayne Fisher-Quann wrote at Bitch,

Looking at the evidence, the answer to the question, “What will sexual assault victims do without the police?” is easily answerable: Sans police, their chances of obtaining justice would be much higher than they are right now.

There’s a lot of anecdata from survivors about law enforcement and how police officers are more a hindrance to justice and accountability than a facilitator. It’s easy to find stories about police as soldiers for rape culture. If they aren’t mistreating a rape victim who is trying to report, they are committing sexual violence themselves.

I wanted to add some research to add extra sources to back up survivor stories, largely inspired by the LAPPL and their Twitter behavior.

The thread is really long and it’s not particularly easy to peruse, so I wanted to reshare my sources in an easier-to-read format with some themes I’ve noticed as I’ve researched for this thread and over the years.

Many police officers believe rape myths

  • Rape victim advocate centers report that “secondary victimization through victim-blaming statements by the police is the most salient direct service barrier to their work” (Ullman & Townsend, 2007)

  • A majority of sexual assault victims “viewed contact with the legal system as hurtful.” (Campbell et al., 2001)

  • “Sexual assault victims report that police are reluctant to take their reports, and investigators ask about prior relationships with perpetrators, ask whether the victim responded sexually to the rape, and make statements about the case not being serious enough to pursue” (Campbell, 2006)

  • Sexual assault victims “were more likely to complain about police treatment when the offender was someone they knew. Police showed too much leniency, expressed disbelief or skepticism, or did not take their allegations seriously.” (Felson & Pare, 2008)

  • Kaukinen & DeMaris, 2009: For rape victims, “reporting to the police appears to exacerbate the impact of the sexual assault and increase depression levels.”

The research found that “while officers express some unique viewpoints, there are common patterns in police officer schema related to sexual assault.” Police were overly fixated on “false reports” and would turn a reporting session into an interrogation at their own discretion. Experiencing that hostility when they need a neutral party to record the information can be devastating.

What particular chilled me is how officers didn’t even notice—or lied about—their own bias against victims influencing the process.

Statements in police records drew upon rape myths that denied or justified the assault on the basis of specific circumstances of the assault (i.e., circumstantial statements) and specific characteristics of the victim (i.e., characterological statements). Statements in police reports also blamed victims for the way police responded to the assault (i.e., investigatory blame statements).

In 60% of the reports, officers used rape myths related to the circumstances of the assault.

In 42% of them, officers used rape myths related to the victim's life ("not credible"/"slutty"/sex worker/"crazy"/drug use).

—and they retraumatize victims in the process

…participants whose cases were eventually prosecuted described the detectives’ treatment toward them considerably different than participants with nonprosecuted cases. The study findings further show that victims with cases that were not prosecuted primarily described their detectives as engaging in secondary victimization behaviors and that victims with cases that were ultimately prosecuted primarily described their detectives as responding compassionately toward them.

Victims mistreated by detectives felt “dehumanized and blamed themselves”. Many even said “they would have never reported if they knew what the experience would be like.”

  • "victims who are younger, an ethnic minority, raped by an acquaintance, or who wait to report the rape even for a few hours are less likely to have their cases prosecuted because the CJS perceives them as less credible."

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Police discriminate against victims who’ve been drinking

—which is particularly troubling since 50% of sexual assaults occur when the victim, assailant, or both are under the influence of alcohol. (Women’s Alcohol Use and Risk of Sexual Victimization: Implications for Prevention)

"The more intoxicated the complainant was perceived to be, the more negatively she was viewed."

Their racism hurts victims of color

When the victim and offender are strangers, an arrest is less likely in White-on-Black assaults versus Black-on-White assaults. Further, an arrest is less likely in Black-on-Black family assaults because victims in these cases are less likely to cooperate with police, implying that Black victims’ reluctance or inability to cooperate with police plays an important and overlooked role in producing racial disparities in clearance and arrest outcomes in certain types of cases.

Racism “undermines women’s safety and access to justice and pits women’s safety against community priorities of averting police contact and disproportionate incarceration."

The intersectional lens contextualizes a unique paradox for Black women: the fear of unjust harm to their partners through an overzealous & racially motivated police response and the simultaneous sense of futility in a justice system that may not sufficiently prioritize IPV/SV.

Police are a part of the sexual abuse to prison pipeline

I could have kept going—this is just the tip of the iceberg. But honestly it was really depressing and tough to pore through and I think I got my point across. If you’re not convinced after reading those articles and their references, then two more studies won’t suddenly tip the scales.

The reality: the system isn’t designed to help survivors—or end rape. Regardless of where you fall on the funding police issue, consider the mountain of evidence showing that police don’t stop rape. Don’t bring up sexual assault survivors as a reason to maintain the status quo or stick to just “reform”—we must create new possibilities and systems to give victims a fair shot at justice and accountability for their assailants.

‘Til next time,

Wagatwe

P.P.S. This Fourth of July weekend, my essay on American exceptionalism as group narcissism may be of interest.

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