Photo by voteprime.
The number of rapes reported in Washington, D.C. rose by 37 percent last year, according to data released yesterday.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ report on crime and crime control showed an increase from 172 rapes reported in 2011 to 236 cases reported in 2012. Eighty arrests were made in rape cases last year.
The report also revealed that aggravated assault and larceny rose in the District by 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively. All other crimes, including homicide and robbery, saw decreases.
In the entire Washington metro area, there was a 14.6 percent increase in rape. As Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook told WTOP, this rise may be from better reporting.
Indeed, Lois Frankel , director of external affairs for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, said part of the rise can likely be accounted to an increase in reporting.
Among the people who come to counseling at the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, more are reporting their rapes, according to Frankel.
Frankel said the rise “reflects well on the city” and shows the Metropolitan Police Department is taking sexual assault seriously.
The MPD came under intense scrutiny for its handling of sexual assault cases after a Human Rights Watch report released earlier this year accused the department of failing to properly investigate such cases and mistreating victims. But the report was recently called “flawed” by an independent review conducted by a D.C. law firm. However, the review did credit Human Rights Watch with putting a “spotlight on an aspect of law enforcement that is not often discussed.”
There’s another possible reason for the rise: A definition change. As Frankel pointed out, the definition of rape used in Uniform Crime Reporting, an FBI crime statistic system used by MPD and other police agencies, was revised in January 2012 to includes all genders and areas of penetration. Rape is now “the penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.”
Request for comment from MPD about the role the definition change may have had on statistics has not been returned.
