A new analysis of how allegations of sexual assault are prosecuted at Chicago area colleges and universities shows that only a handful of convictions have stemmed from the more than 100 sex crimes reported at area campuses since 2005.
The Chicago Tribune specifically found that, of the 109 sex crimes reported since fall 2005 at 16 area colleges, only 12 arrests were made and, of those, five convictions were secured.
The analysis arrives at a time when Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is in Washington, D.C., arguing a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court related to a 2000 sexual assault reported at Chicago State University. As WBEZ reports, Alvarez's office, which prosecuted the case, declined to press felony charges even though DNA evidence secured by campus police's handling of the crime and a forensic expert lent credence to the assault victim's charge.
Nevertheless, Alvarez's office contends that they have handled the case well, because there were inconsistencies in the evidence on file against the accused attacker.
"Generally speaking, we cannot approve felony charges unless we are confident that we can sustain our burden of proof," Alvarez spokeswoman Sally Daly told the Tribune. "Factors that may prevent us from meeting our burden of proof and prevent us from approving felony charges include cases where there is little or no corroboration to the accounts of the complaining witness or inconsistencies in the accounts provided by the complaining witness."
River Forest police Chief Gregory Weiss, who worked on a case against a Dominican University basketball player accused of sexual assault, told the Tribune it is difficult to secure a conviction in many campus sexual assault cases because it often comes down to one person's word against another's -- and often involves alcohol and conflicting witness reports.
Earlier this year, The Huffington Post looked into the low number of arrests and convictions reported at one area campus, Northwestern University, where 21 sex crimes reported to date led to zero arrests or convictions. A spokeswoman for the school's Women's Center said that an internal hearing and appeals system is sometimes used as an "empowering" alternative to the sometimes overwhelming process of going to police.
But a spokeswoman for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation's largest anti-sexual violence advocacy organization, said such internal programs need to be closely coordinated with local law enforcement to ensure that attackers are brought to justice.
"It's devastating that this crime is not being treated with the seriousness it deserves," Katherine Hull of RAINN told The Huffington Post. "Sexual violence as a serious crime which needs to be handled by law enforcement, which allows for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Instead, we're seeing crimes of sexual violence being treated on college campuses in the same way you'd deal with plagiarism or an overdue library book."
RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, which can be accessed online and at 1-800-656-HOPE.