Many Pennsylvania district attorneys need to rethink how they respond to allegations of sexual assault | PennLive Editorial

Many District Attorneys in counties throughout Pennsylvania have one thing in common, they are reluctant to prosecute people charged with sex crimes.

In fact, extensive reporting from PennLive’s Christine Vendel and Jenna Wise has revealed an alarming statistic: since 2019, prosecutors in Pennsylvania have not pursued an average of 75 percent of reports of rapes and sex assaults, including those committed against children.

PennLive’s series of stories shows Lehigh County has the lowest rate of prosecution of reported sex crimes at about 7 percent over the past five years. And in Elk, Forest, Centre and Lehigh counties, in 2023 police didn’t file charges on more than 90 percent of reported sex crimes. Adams and York County ranked at 12 percent and 15 percent of case prosecuted, respectively.

Lebanon County’s prosecution rate was a bit higher at 17%, and Lancaster’s was 20 percent.

The low rates of prosecution in these counnties raise disturbing questions about whether police and prosecutors there are doing enough to support sexual assault victims and ensure offenders are brought to justice.

Authorities argue cases of rape and sexual assault can be hard to prove and alleged victims often make confusing and conflicting statements. Advocates for victims of sexual assault say the system is rigged against them not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the nation. Women interviewed for PennLive’s reports echoed those allegations. They complained all too often police and prosecutors don’t believe them. They also accused authorities of having outdated and unrealistic assumptions of how victims should respond to sexual assaults.

Victims said authorities too often put them through even more trauma in questioning, and many are not trained in how to properly deal with victims of sexual assault.

PennLive’s investigative reporting has uncovered a widespread pattern of ignorance in how to properly investigate sex crimes and a pattern of minimizing the trauma victims of sexual assault suffer.

Four women who say they were raped told PennLive of their nightmarish experiences reporting the crime to police and responding to questions from district attorneys. They said they suffered even more harm from a criminal justice system designed to wear them down, protect their abusers and silence their cries for justice.

In one tragic case, a woman who reported being raped ended up being charged herself when police didn’t believe her story. Lebanon District Attorney Pier Hess Graf charged the 26-year-old woman with making a false report.

Overall, PennLive’s reporting shows police and prosecutors often are prone to skepticism about accusers’ stories and are unaware women may react differently to sexual assault, including being unable to fight back.

There is one ray of hope in the months of investigation, officials in some counties are taking steps to change the system and support victims of sexual assault.

Perry County has started specialized training for those conducting sex crime investigations. And the county ranks among Pennsylvania’s top five for the rate of prosecuting such crimes. Perry County prosecutors took four sex crimes cases to trial last year and won convictions in all of them. Thirteen other cases in the county ended in guilty pleas.

The recent trend in Perry County is encouraging, and District Attorney’s office in Pennsylvania counties with low prosecution rates for sex crimes should take note. We urge them to immediately revamp their procedures for handling such cases of let the public know they’re doing so.

Women, men, and children who come forward deserve to have their allegations taken seriously. And they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

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