Dive Brief:
- Sexual assault complaints made to Florida State University police and Tallahassee city police are frequently dropped after the police label the accuser uncooperative if she does not explicitly ask them to investigate — even after she files a police report and undergoes a medical rape exam, according to a report.
- From 2011 through 2013, at least 63 Florida State students sought treatment in hospitals for sexual assault, and 55 of them reported their assault to the police.
- Tallahassee police made only two arrests for sexual assaults on Florida State students during that period, and university police have made no arrests for forcible sex offenses from 2007 through 2013, the New York Times reported.
Dive Insight:
The Times based its report on interviews with prosecutors and victim advocates, along with a review of case files it obtained from university and Tallahassee police under Florida’s Freedom of Information law. The newspaper says that the practice of dropping a sexual assault case if the alleged victim doesn't expressly ask for an investigation after filing a report is common in other police jurisdictions, as well, though experts and prosecutors have urged them to change the practice.