School Sexual Assaults Information
An ongoing wave of Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, are calling into question the efficacy of local police departments. A movement to “Defund the Police” is gaining momentum, and although the concept is unnerving at first glance, this platform may provide significant benefits to sexual assault survivors.
What Is the Defund the Police Movement?
In response to the militarization of the police and over-policing of certain communities, particularly low-income, historically Black communities, activists and politicians across the country are calling to Defund the Police. This movement calls for governments to divest funds from police departments and move them into other sectors. Police forces will still exist and operate, but communities will not utilize them as heavily as they currently do.
Instead of providing multi-million-dollar budgets to the police, proponents of this movement claim that this money would be more effective in non-policing public safety and community support services. For example, funds may go to improve social services, resources for youth, affordable housing, and healthcare.
Investing in these sectors, activists say, could help reduce police violence, rehabilitate offenders, and support people in need in more effective ways than involving the police. For example, instead of a police officer performing a wellness check on a mentally unstable person, equitable resource allocation would allow a trained mental health professional to perform this service.
Do Sexual Assault Survivors Report Their Assaults to Police?
According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), approximately 3 out of 4 sexual assaults go unreported to the police. 13% of survivors who did not report their assaults to the police believed the police would not do anything to help. Other reasons for not reporting include fear of retaliation and a desire to pursue other avenues to justice.
Many survivors report facing unfair scrutiny from police officers they report their assaults to, as well as dismissal and disbelief. In smaller communities where everyone knows one another, going to the police can put a survivor at risk of retaliation or gossip.
Communities that have faced high rates of police brutality, such as Black communities, may also refrain from reporting assaults to law enforcement out of fear of violence. All of these experiences can make it very difficult for survivors, especially Black survivors and survivors of color, to seek help from the police.
Survivors and the Defund the Police Movement
Because the criminal justice system does not always work in the survivors’ favor and some survivors do not want to engage with law enforcement officers, the Defund the Police movement can benefit survivors in a number of ways. The existing criminal justice system, according to experts, does not account for the complex psychological, economic, social, and political factors surrounding sexual violence.
Police officers are not always qualified to handle sexual violence cases. As a result, the support survivors receive from the police can seem nonexistent. In fact, two-thirds of officers in Texas received little to no training on how to read rape kit forensic exam results — pieces of evidence that are absolutely crucial for sexual assault criminal cases.
With the Defund the Police movement, more resources can move into social services for sexual assault survivors. Trained victims’ advocates, forensic examiners, legal counsel, mental health professionals, and other people knowledgeable of sexual violence can provide more extensive and comprehensive care with re-allocated budgets.
Although Defund the Police may seem shocking at first glance, equitable division of resources and trained professionals are necessary for the well-being of survivors. Hopefully, new and improved sexual violence support services can begin to grow out of this movement.
