7 thoughts on “Rape Stats”

  3. UPDATE: Amanda Marcotte explains why this chart is inaccurate.
    “The graphic overestimates the number of unreported rapes.”

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  4. I think it would be interesting, as well, to compare other crimes- not to minimize the badness of rape, but to see a somewhat bigger picture. Something most people don’t know, I think, is that most crimes are not solved. A very large percentage of crimes go unreported to police. (Think about garden-variety assault and battery, let alone thefts small enough that insurance isn’t going to cover them, here not even including the large amount of shop-lifting that ends up counted as “shrink” because no one knows for sure what happened to the items.) My understanding is that even most murders are not solved. For a very larger percentage of crimes, unless the criminals are particularly dumb (not unusual) or are caught red-handed, they are never solved. Of course, there’s good reason to think the situation is worse for rape, but it does seem to me to be important to see the statistics in light of general statistics about how often crimes are solved, charges brought, etc.

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  5. “I think it would be interesting, as well, to compare other crimes- not to minimize the badness of rape, but to see a somewhat bigger picture.”
    Yep. We just lost a number of Christmas gifts to a package thief and it took me a couple weeks to realize that it hadn’t even crossed my mind to talk to the police about it. Ditto the time a couple years ago when some low life stole two lawn chairs from our lawn in broad day light.
    I think I remember reading that murder is usually the crime used for comparing crime rates from jurisdiction to jurisdiction because you don’t have these kind of reporting issues. A dead body requires some explanation.

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  6. Matt,
    I think there are ways rape can be similar to other crimes, but there are also differences which would explain why rape would be less reported. Not unrelated to low level theft, but still a little different, is if it doesn’t feel particularly traumatic, the act of labeling it as rape and labeling oneself as rape victim through the act of reporting may make the person feel psychologically worse. Also, there are few crimes which have the potential to rebound and hurt the victim as much as reporting a rape, particularly if the perpetrator is someone powerful or the victim is someone more marginal. A woman reporting a rape has to weigh the cost of a conviction vs. having her name dragged through the mud, or at least being semi-publicly slut shamed by the police or in court.

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  7. Hi B.I.- I agree with all of that, and am glad to have you say it. (I especially think the “didn’t feel particularly traumatic” bit is interesting and important, for several reasons.) My only point was that to understand the statistics, they have to be seen in the light of other crime statistics, too. That’s very rarely done.

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