Improving Sexual Assault Investigations: Collaboration Between Researchers and Police Chiefs

1. How Collaboration Between Researchers and Police Chiefs Can Improve the Quality of Sexual Assault Investigations: A Look at Los Angeles Joanne Archambault, Executive Director, End Violence Against Women International Robert Casey, Section Chief, FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program Michel Moore, Assistant Chief, Los Angeles Police Department Cassia Spohn, Professor, Arizona State University Katharine Tellis, Assistant Professor, California State University, Los Angeles

2. Framing the Discussion • Sexual Assault on the Public Agenda • Rape in the United States: The Chronic Failure to Report and Investigate Sex Crimes (US Senate, September 2010) • Salient issues • Downgrading/misclassification of rapes as non-crimes • Lack of investigation • The Impact of the FBI • Summary Crime Reporting • Case clearance criteria • How “forcible rape” is currently defined

3. The Present Study: Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases • Purpose • To examine sexual assault case attrition in the criminal justice system • To contextualize the reporting and case processing dynamics • Our research partners • LAPD, LASD, LA District Attorney’s Office • Santa Monica UCLA Rape Treatment Center; Valley Trauma Center; Domestic Abuse Center • Data • LAPD & LASD sexual assault case outcomes 2005 – 2009 • Subsample of 2008 reports (LAPD N = 401; LASD N = 543) • Interviews with LAPD & LASD detectives, and Deputy District Attorneys (N = 106) • Interviews with sexual assault survivors (N = 17)

4. Four Issues for Discussion • Problematic & antiquated definition of forcible rape • Substantial case attrition, the locus of which resides in the decision to arrest or not • Overuse and misuse of the exceptional clearance • Need for specialized training: the voices of detectives

5. Problematic Definition of Forcible Rape • “Forcible rape is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded. • Acts that do not involve penile-vaginal penetration are excluded • Sexual penetration with an object • Oral copulation • Sodomy

6. Forcible Rapes and “Other Sex Offenses” in Los Angeles, 2005-2009

7. Case Outcomes: Rapes and Attempted Rapes Reported to LAPD, 2005-2009

8. Case Attrition: LAPD, 2005-2009 • 5,031 reports of rape and attempted rape • 12.2% (N=616) were cleared by the arrest of a suspect • 9.7% (N=486) resulted in filing of charges • 7.8% (N=390) resulted in a conviction • 4.6% (N= 232) resulted in a prison sentence

9. Case Outcomes: Rapes and Attempted Rapes Reported to LASD, 2005-2009

10. Cleared by Exceptional Means CLEAR BY ARREST CLEAR BY EXCEPTIONAL MEANS At least one person is: 1. Arrested 2. Charged (booked by the police on the arrest charge) with the commission of the offense 3. Turned over to the court for prosecution • Each must be met: 1. The investigation must have clearly established the identity of at least one offender. 2. Sufficient probable cause must have been developed to support the arrest, charging, and prosecution of the offender 3. The exact location of the offender must be known so that an arrest could be made. 4. There must be a reason outside the control of law enforcement which prevents the arrest

11. Case Clearances, 2008

12. Case Clearances in Stranger and Nonstranger Cases

13. Salient Interview Findings • LAPD & LASD DETECTIVES • Two approaches to victims • Innocent until proven guilty • Guilty until proven innocent • “Case drop-offs”: Take nonstranger cases to DA in lieu of making an arrest • Clearing by exceptional means when DA says evidence is insufficient • Key issue: thorough investigation (or lack thereof) • LA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE • Pre-filing interview in nonstranger sexual assault cases • Corroboration requirement • Declinations without an arrest inflate their official charging statistics

14. “Assumed Innocent” “Assumed Guilty” • Expressed a passion for working sex crimes • Reported engaging the victim as an ally in the investigation • Expected inconsistencies based on patrol reports and victim trauma • Stated false reports are rare • Emphasized that cases involving alcohol, drugs, or prior/initially consensual sex are just as serious and occur much more frequently than stranger rape • Lamented that departmental leadership do not take sexual assault as seriously as homicide • Emphasized stranger rape as the only “real” rape • Nonstranger cases as “self-victimization” • Stated victim inconsistency ruins credibility • Emphasized the ubiquity of false reporting and victims’ lack of cooperation • Distinguished responses based on the “righteousness” of the victim • Expressed anywhere from reluctance to unwillingness to arrest in “he said/she said” cases

15. Somewhere in the middle… • “The most difficult/least prosecuted cases [involve] my righteous victims because they’re so traumatized to go forward if we find the individual who did it and get them through the court proceeding. I wouldn’t say that it’s about holding the hand of the victim—that’s a lot of the reason why detectives don’t like sex crimes—it’s not. But you have to be compassionate and compatible. If you got stuck in sex crimes and don’t want to be there you’re not going to do it well.”

16. LAPD detectives explain Pre-arrest Screening at DA’s Office • “You’re not holding off on making an arrest in cases where you believe there is a case. We make arrests right away because there is no reason to lie. I don’t want to give impression of being anti-victim but you have to be aware of victimology here.” • “On all crimes, if you have evidence you make an arrest. It [pre-arrest screening] is unique to sexual assault because usually there is no evidence. In most crimes there is no relationship between the suspect and victim such as burglary and auto theft. It makes it more difficult because there is most likely a relationship between the suspect and victim.” • “If we get a [DA] reject it should be IC’d. They write lack of evidence a lot but that poses a problem for us in clearing the case other. The detective manual [citing the FBI/UCR] says you have to have sufficient admissible evidence.”