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The Washington Post reports that, in line with FBI data showing a drop in violent crime in the District of Columbia and across the country, rapes in the city spiked by roughly 25 percent in 2010, according to federal statistics released in September. The Washington Post reports that, according to the FBI’s annual report “Crime in the United States there were 187 rapes in the District in 2010, compared with 150 in 2009, a 25 percent increase. Nationally over the same period, rapes decreased by 5 percent, from 89,241 to 84,767. The localized data represents 2010 statistics reported by D.C. police to the FBI, the Post states, which are taken from annually compiled statistics based on data sent in to the FBI by local law enforcement agencies that participate in the feds voluntary Uniform Crime Reporting program. Maryland had 71 more rapes in 2010 than the year before, the Post articles states, reflecting a a 6 percent increase statewide and putting the total for the year at 1,227. Meanwhile, In Virginia, the number of rapes decreased by 40, or 3 percent, bringing the total to 1,532. Officially termed “forcible rape” by the FBI, the crime of rape is defined its annual report as forced sexual intercourse or any attempt to force a woman to have sexual intercourse. “In the District, rape remains stubbornly resistant to efforts to combat it. D.C. police spokeswoman Gwendolyn Crump said Monday that the 2010 rape figures were on par with past years,” the Post reports. “Although we have seen an increase in forcible rapes between 2009 and 2010, the number of reported forcible rapes in 2010 is consistent with figures reported in 2006, 2007 and 2008,” Crump said. Crump said in many cases involving forcible rape, the perpetrator and the victim know each other, and, in addition to that, the relationship history often includes previous instances of domestic violence. “We continue to conduct outreach to empower victims and encourage them to report offenses. We also conduct outreach at local colleges and universities,” Crump told the Post. But the article suggests local agencies and representatives of rape victims, such as Denise Snyder, executive director of the DC Rape Crisis Center, have issues with the numbers. “That’s bad news,” said Snyder, who attributed the increase in the number of rapes to two possible factors: increases in the number of women attacked and increased reporting after attacks. Snyder told the Post that the city has “coordinated an improved response to rape,” with Washington Hospital Center offering a team of specially trained nurses who are remain on call 24/7 to examine rape victims and collect evidence; in the past, a victim might wait hours until an emergency room doctor was free, the article says. The rape crisis center is one of several participants in monthly meetings with D.C. police, the U.S. attorney’s office and other parties to talk about trends in rape cases, how they are handled and what areas need improvement. “The communication is working better now than at any other time,” said Snyder, who has led the Rape Crisis Center for 25 years, the article says. Nonetheless, due to the intimate nature of the crime, rape victims remain reluctant to to report it and the continued stigma against rapists and victims persists, hence, the issue is less openly discussed than crimes such as robberies, burglaries and murders, making tracking stistics more difficult to track and predict. “One of the struggles of law enforcement is that homicide gets top billing in terms of publicity and resources. Sexual assault is often not given the resources that are needed in law enforcement,” Snyder said. Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police, raised the issue of increased sexual violence at the beginning of the year. He said Monday that police officials kept quiet about the spike last year because of the mayoral election. Officials should have told the public months ago about the increase in rapes, he added. Crump called any suggestion of political motives “ridiculous,” adding that D.C. police “encourage the public to report crimes, and we publicly report crimes that are reported to us,” according to the Post.
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D.C. Violent Crime Declines, But Not Rapes
