Going to the Police
| Author | Judith Daylen, Wendy van Tongeren Harvey, and Dennis O'Toole |
| Pages | 181-232 |
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Going to the Police
Vignette Six
After many years of keeping her sexual abuse a s ecret, Halima, a twenty-
one-year-old Muslim woman, decides to go to the authorities. A very good
friend of her father, a man held in such great esteem by the family that the
children called him ”uncle,” had sexually abused her from the age of eight
to the age of eleven. The abuse began with caressing her genitals, having
her touch him, and eventually led to intercourse. At a family gathering ,
Halima, so incensed at the high regard the family paid this man, confronts
him about the abuse. The man becomes very d efensive, denies the abuse,
and when Halima persists, he threatens her life. Many of he r family mem-
bers rally to the man’s defence and call Halima a liar. A day later, she re-
ceives a message on the answering machine at her apartment. He r abuser
says she is lthy, a troublemaker, and is hurting her family by making these
accusations. He also says if she tells authorities no man will ever marr y her
because she is not a virgin. Due to her fear of the man’s threat and with the
support of her female roommate, Halima goes to th e police. At the police
station, an ocer takes her complaint and asks her to write out everything
she can remember about the abuse and tells her to come back when she is
nished. The ocer later puts this narrative, her answer ing machine tape,
and a statement directed by the police ocer into her le. Based on this
evidence, the Crown lawyer decides to charge the accused with sexual as-
sault, sexual interference, and invitation to se xual touching.
the police that a sexual crime has taken place, you
are taking the rst step in assigning criminal responsibility to the person
who assaulted you. Although each reporting experience, and the police re-
182 , ,
sponse that follows, is unique, there are common elements to the investiga-
tion of sexual crimes. In this chapter, we systematically walk you through
the typic al reporting procedu res: police interv iews, investigation , arrest of
the accused, and decisions about laying charges. e goal of this chapter is
to point out what you can expect when you report a sexual assault, a nd how
the police will investigate your allegations.
ere are a number of steps necessary before your case actually gets to
criminal court. e rst step is reporting the crime to the police who record
the complaint. If, based on your account, the police determine the oender
has likely engaged in criminal behaviour, they will investigate. When the
investigation is completed and the suspect has had the opportunity to
make a statement, the police (or sometimes the Crown lawyer) decide if
they will lay charges and they determ ine what those charges will be. Once
authorities have laid charges, the prosecuting lawyer then establishes the
process for the accused to answer the charges in a court of law. Depending
on circumstances, your case may go all the way to a trial and sentencing
or it may be resolved at any of the steps along the way. See Appendix for
an overview of how a case would proceed through the complete criminal
process. I n later chapters, we d iscuss these steps in more detail.
Deciding whether to report your sexual assault is clearly a big decision,
with emotional and legal consequences for you and those close to you. In
the previous chapter, we touched on some of the potential emotional costs
and benets of pursuing your case in criminal court. e court process be-
gins with your report to the police, so what you read in the last chapter
should assist you to make a decision about reporting the crime. Given the
many stresses encountered within the justice system, it is not surprising that
most victims of sex crimes see signicant obstacles to reporting. Research
suggest s that percent or more of al l sexual as sault crimes go u nreported.
ese low reporting rates indicate a very unfortunate and d isturbing real-
ity: sexual crimes are the most under-reported of all types of crime.
ere are many reasons why victims of sexual assaults never report their
experiences to the police. Some victims do not realize that a criminal of-
fence has occurred. ese victims may feel violated but do not appreciate
that they have legal recourse to hold the oender accountable. is can
occur with child victims, v ictims sexually assaulted by husbands, victims
who were too drunk to consent to sex, victims who were too afraid to say no
to sex, or victims who blame themselves for what happened. Other victims
do not report the crime due to threats or actual violence by the oender.
Chapter 6: Going to the Po lice 183
ey are fearful of the harm that could befall them or their loved ones
should they rep ort. Individua ls disenfranc hised from mains tream culture,
isolated within their community, or from divergent cultural backgrounds
may experience additional obstacles to reporting sexual assaults.
Vulnerable people, such as sex-trade workers, the homeless, or new
immigrants, may have little faith in the police or trust in the justice sys-
tem. First Nations people may particularly distrust government or other
mainstre am authority g ures due to a history of abuse in government-run
residential schools or due to personal experiences of racism. Within some
ethnic groups, a woman tainted by a sex crime falls to a r ung lower on the
community social ladder than the man who sexua lly assaulted her. She is
the one ostracized and punished while the community protects the of-
fender. Male victims have no fewer barriers to reporting. ey may fear a
stigma will attach to them if another male has sexually a ssaulted them. If
the oender is a woman, the shame of the failure to defend himself or the
perception that others do not view this as an assault may contribute to the
male victim’s silence and failure to report.
ere may be one overr iding reason or a combi nation of reasons deter-
ring any particular i ndividual from reporting a sexual crime. We note some
of the most commonly given explanations for not reporting below:
Fear of or threats by the oender
Social stigma of being a sexual a ssault victim
Embarrassment, shame, or blame for being sexually as saulted
History of negative experiences or mistrust of police or other au-
thorities
Concern about t he negative reac tions, criticism , shame, or judg ment
of family, friends, or community
Fear of being disbelieved, especially if the abuser is in a perceived
position of power or esteem in the community
Fear that private aspects of one’s life will be exposed and judged by
family, f riends, or others
Feeling that the assault was not serious enough
INCENTIVES FOR REPORTING A SEXUAL CRIME
reporting a sexual as sault to the police, there
are those who do come forward. It is from these people that we learn how
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