Women testify city lax in handling sex cases
Critical delays. Dismissive and rude comments. A seeming unwillingness to take seriously their reports of sexual assaults.
On Wednesday, a dozen women and advocates stood before a panel of San Francisco supervisors to describe how key city agencies have been mishandling rape cases, leaving those who report such crimes feeling mistreated and discarded by those who are supposed to help.
“What I experienced was 4½ years and counting, today, of negligence and incompetence,” said Rachel Sutton, whose sexual-assault investigation was detailed in The Chronicle. “Going through this process is not liberating or freeing. Victims, like myself, get nothing.”
San Francisco General Hospital officials said that reports to the hospital of sexual assault have risen by 21 percent from 2015-17. But in many cases, victim advocates said, people won’t report assaults because they don’t know the process, or have heard complaints from others who did report.
At San Francisco General, women said, they waited hours before being examined and having blood and urine samples taken — delays that could have affected the evidence in their cases. Subsequent police investigations seemed to be lacking, they said, with key witnesses not being swiftly interviewed and evidence going uncollected. Cases that were finally sent to the district attorney’s office languished as well, they said, with prosecutors unwilling to pursue charges that might not result in convictions.
“There is a pattern of negligence and mistreatment that I consider abusive toward rape
victims,” Supervisor Hillary Ronen said at the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee hearing. “These are our city employees who are blaming victims for their own assaults, disregarding the severity of these rapes, and denying survivors their right to an objective and thorough investigation.”
Representatives from San Francisco General, the Police Department and the district attorney’s office acknowledged failings and promised to invest more in staffing and training to improve the intake, investigation and prosecution of sex assaults, particularly those perpetrated with the use of drugs or alcohol.
“It’s been an incredible opportunity for us to hear what we can do better and should do better,” San Francisco police Cmdr. Greg McEachern told the committee.
“What we are hearing today is: Oftentimes something that is said to a survivor, and the manner it is said, and how it is received by them, is less than an acceptable manner.”
Cristine DeBerry, chief of staff in the district attorney’s office, echoed the sentiment.
“I do want to offer a sincere apology ... for anybody who was treated with less than the utmost dignity,” DeBerry said. “That is abhorrent, and not the standard we hold ourselves to.”
Catherine Classen, division head of Trauma Recovery Services at San Francisco General, said the hospital has tried to address concerns, including a new policy that calls for the collection of blood and urine samples within 30 minutes of a sexual-assault victim’s arrival.
But she said more resources would be needed for staffing changes, such as providing mental health services outside of business hours during the week.
“We do our best,” Classen said. “But staffing is, I have to say, a real challenge for us. ... Yesterday, we had four sexualassault survivors showing up, so it is an ongoing problem.”
Sexual-assault cases can be challenging to investigate and prosecute, according to experts. But even when there is little physical evidence, a victim’s statement is often legally enough for a district attorney to file charges.
Nationwide, however, very few rapes are prosecuted. That is likely due, in part, to skepticism over alleged crimes involving acquaintances and alcohol, according to a 2012 article in the peer-reviewed journal Violence Against Women.
Women who spoke on Wednesday said they often felt blamed by the police officers who took their reports.
After she reported being drugged and raped by an acquaintance in 2016, Tiffany Tonel said, a police investigator told her that the success of her case would come down to her “state of mind.”
“My state of mind? What does that mean?” Tonel said. “Sex is consensual; rape is not. I could not consent in the state I was in.”
Jane Manning, a former New York City prosecutor who specializes in crimes against women and director of advocacy for Women’s Justice NOW, said there is a tendency to fault victims who report having been drugged if they had been drinking socially beforehand, even when there is corroborating evidence.
Manning has recently advocated on behalf of six women in San Francisco, including Sutton and Tonel, who have alleged that their sexual-assault investigations were mishandled and never charged. Two cases are currently being re-reviewed by the district attorney’s office.
At the hearing Wednesday, Manning called for better tracking and availability of data on how sexual-assault cases progress through the criminal justice system.
“Many sexual assaults are challenging cases, but they are also winnable cases,” Manning said.
Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, a former victims’ advocate in the district attorney’s office, agreed.
“We are not taking these crimes seriously,” Sheehy said. “I think we are worried too much about our 100 percent conviction rate, and not enough about the people.”
McEachern and DeBerry said their offices are already implementing training, increasing staffing and seeking expert advice on dealing with drug-facilitated sexual assaults, in particular. They said they are looking for more ways to collaborate with advocates and to understand the concerns of those who come forward to report sexual assault.
Ronen indicated she will also be looking for ways to address the problems through new legislation.
“This blaming the survivor for rape, whether it is language talking about how much she drank, or her need to take responsibility, is outrageous,” Ronen said. “I have to say, I am angry. I am upset. And I am appalled. ... Something has got to give, and it has got to give right now.”