Silence is not golden for rape victims.
If rape remains the crime whose name dare not be spoken, one local group is nevertheless clamoring to correct an age-old problem that led to almost 1,300 reported rapes in Maryland in 2005 and a legal situation that accords rapists paternity rights on par with those of all fathers.
“We were originally formed by the local rape recovery centers in Maryland 25 years ago to provide state-level advocacy and coordination around sexual violence issues,” said Jennifer Pollitt-Hill, executive director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault in Arnold. “So partly we serve as a clearinghouse of information of what?s going on in these areas.”
Pollitt-Hill pointed out the FBI?s 2005 rape statistics for Maryland ? the latest available final figures and numbers that put the state, at 22.6 per 100,000 population, only 3.4 points behind California ? are a fraction of the state?s yearly rape crisis center consultations, a troubling lagging indicator Pollitt-Hill attributes to an enduring societal and legal bias against the crime?s reporting.
“There are so many reasons [for underreporting],” she said, saying that one in eight Maryland women have been raped, and the 2000 national conviction rate for reported rapes was only 12 percent. “You have victims who don?t want to report because of the way they?re going to be treated. You have law enforcement that will judge whether a victim is worthy or not. And, once evidence is collected, you have prosecutors who have to decide if it?s a winnable case,” she said.
The 10-employee, $500,000-per-year nonprofit addresses the situation through lobbying, agency coordination, research, technical assistance and training ? in forensic examinations, for example ? for its two-dozen member organizations, including 18 statewide rape crisis centers.
“In this area we need someone to coordinate things, and to be the spokesperson,” said Rosalyn Branson, executive director of Turnaround, a Towson-based rape crisis center, “and MCASA does a really good job of that.”
MCASA is lobbying for Maryland Senate and House bills that would limit rapists? paternity rights, and it is pushing for state compliance with federal Violence Against Women Act provisions waiving police reports as a condition of rape-related forensic examinations.
