Is Rape Even Worth Reporting?

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Thursday July 01, 2021 · 2:26 AM PDT

2021/07/01 · 02:26

‘I am furious’: shock and anger after Bill Cosby’s conviction overturned

The surprise reversal of Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction by Pennsylvania’s highest court on Wednesday drew widespread shock and fury – particularly in and around Hollywood, where the comedian was once a sitcom titan known as “America’s Dad”.

Justice David Wecht wrote that Cosby had relied on the former prosecutor’s decision not to charge him when he gave potentially incriminating testimony in Constand’s prior civil suit. Laws on bad actors differ by state, but the reversal could make prosecutors wary of calling other accusers in similar cases.

Shock, fury and a lot of tears.

Is it any surprise that:

In 2017, roughly 42 rapes were reported for every 100,000 US residents. That’s approximately 136,000 rapes, according to the FBI‘s latest data. Considering the majority of rapes aren’t reported, however, the actual number is closer to 300,000.

Of the share of rapes that gets reported, only about a third is ever cleared—that is, in only one of every three cases is at least one offender identified and charged with the crime. This doesn’t mean the offender is convicted, though.

Less than 1% of rapes lead to felony convictions. At least 89% of victims face emotional and physical consequences.

About 0.7 percent of rapes and attempted rapes end with a felony conviction for the perpetrator, according to an estimate based on the best of the imperfect measures available.

On the other side of the incident, at least 89 percent of victims report some level of distress, including high rates of physical injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and substance abuse.

And when one predator is finally caught

They let him fucking go.

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Is Rape Even Worth Reporting?

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