County-wide audit of sexual assault cases reveals systemic problems

An audit of sexual assault cases was recently performed in Whatcom County, with the goal of developing survivor-centered responses to sexual assault.

Performed by the Bellingham-Whatcom County Commission on Sexual and Domestic Violence, the audit focused on answering the question, “How is the Bellingham-Whatcom County criminal legal system organized to meet the justice needs of sexual assault survivors?”

The audit consisted of interviews with survivors as well as interviews with nurses, detectives and other practitioners and stakeholders. It also included focus groups, court observations and reviews of sexual assault prosecutions in Whatcom County. “This was a huge effort, and represented the first audit focused on sexual assault that the commission has done,” said commission director Susan Marks, who presented the report’s findings to Blaine City Council at the June 10 meeting.

The audit discovered that the ways community institutions in Whatcom County understand and respond to reports of sexual assault are influenced by widespread societal myths and misconceptions about sexual assault. One such myth is that survivors lie about sexual assault, making up allegations because they regret a sexual encounter or want revenge against a sexual partner. In truth, survivors have little to nothing to gain by making false reports of sexual assault.

“Many survivors shared that the process of reporting a sexual assault is as traumatic as the assault itself, due to the ways that their credibility is assessed,” read the commission’s report. “Our society tends to focus on the integrity of the survivor rather than the reported offender, despite the fact that sexual offenders rarely admit to their sexual violence. We did not see a single case in the audit in which an offender admitted to their sexual violence, but we did see several convictions.”

Other societal myths that are prevalent include that survivors provoke sexual assault with their behavior or by wearing revealing clothing, and that if a survivor’s account of the incident is inconsistent, they are probably lying. “Research demonstrates that the trauma of sexual assault physiologically impacts brain chemistry and the survivor’s ability to remember details and the sequence of the assault,” noted the commission’s report. “The impacts on memory are typically most significant in the hours and days immediately following the assault – often when reports are made.”

At the same time, the report noted that studies show that between 65 and 74 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement. This is because survivors often experience feelings of shame, guilt and self-blame following a sexual assault, and may be reluctant to disclose the incident due to fear of being disbelieved, safety concerns or the belief that nothing will be done. “We hope to break this culture of silence around sexual assault, and we want our community to be comfortable talking about the realities of sexual assault,” said Marks.

The commission’s audit also discovered that implicit bias and oppression lead to inequitable outcomes in the ways community institutions serve and partner with marginalized communities, and Native communities in particular. Implicit bias is the unconscious attribution of particular qualities to a member of a certain social group, and it can lead members of community institutions to make assumptions about survivors based on what they believe to be true about their gender, race or another identity.

“We chose to focus on Native communities because we have two tribes within our county, and there’s data that Native women are sexually assaulted at a higher rate than any other group,” said Marks. But while the commission did hear from some Native survivors, it noted that there were significant barriers to arranging focus groups and interviews; the commission did not have the necessary trust or relationships with culturally-specific community organizations to be able to reach and hear from a significant number of survivors of color.

“In the future, our goal is to build stronger relationships, and to show up in ways that the tribes want us to, and not just for our own purposes,” said Marks. “We want to figure out how to be good partners.”

According to Marks, the next steps will be for stakeholders to implement the report’s recommendations. This includes updating protocols and organizing training sessions. One example is having law enforcement officers trained on how to better conduct interviews with sexual assault survivors. In the past, officers have tried to get a survivor’s whole story right away, whereas the preferred approach is to give the survivor a few sleep cycles to get beyond the immediate trauma. Officers will be trained to use open-ended questions to let survivors recount their story, not necessarily in linear fashion. “It’s also important to let survivors know why certain questions are being asked, such as questions about their drinking or their clothing,” said Marks.