Reforms on rape
Victim after victim is sounding a harsh note that San Francisco’s leaders should hear. Rape cases aren’t getting the handling they demand, allowing assailants to escape justice and leaving victims unheeded and alone. It’s a situation that demands serious attention.
A Chronicle investigation and searing testimony at City Hall are illuminating the difficulties women face in getting medical and legal help. The response too often is an official shrug, with evidence uncollected, skeptical police questioning or prosecutions slow walked to nothingness.
The personal experiences of victims willing to speak publicly are painful to hear. In response, the city is promising results in the form of new policies and better training. Those pledges must be watched for genuine results.
Though crime is generally down in the city, reported sex assault cases handled by San Francisco General Hospital are up by 21 percent from 2015 to 2017. Compounding the problem is another statistic showing that only 0.4 to 5.4 percent of rape cases are prosecuted nationally, according to a victims rights journal in 2012.
The frustrating gap between assaults and prosecutions is troubling in the era of the #MeToo movement and in a city where a majority of the Board of Supervisors are women. But experts argue that rape cases can be challenging, especially when drugs and alcohol are a factor, a complication that often turns the focus on victims and not their attackers.
Such obstacles can’t be allowed to delay action. “It is like everyone is standing around watching you drown,’’ said Rachel Sutton, who was drugged and assaulted in 2014. Her case has languished with prosecutors.
The city reaction must be meaningful and complete. Rape victims should be treated promptly at the first stopping point at San Francisco General, where initial tests can be crucial in collecting evidence. Police should be trained to draw out testimony in ways that aren’t dismissive. Prosecutors should push for criminal cases aggressively.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen, visibly shaken by the public testimony, is promising to pursue the matter of the city’s inadequate handling of rape cases. She and the rest of the city’s leadership should follow through on the troubling inattention to a serious crime.