Image via Shutterstock.

While the U.S. Attorney’s Office does not release aggregate prosecution data, a new report looks at how many sexual assault cases it pursued in 2015. While the report shows that the USAO “prosecutes far more cases than is publicly perceived, when we break those cases down we begin to see patterns that may need prompt attention.”

After a 2013 report from Human Rights Watch found that D.C. Police were mishandling sexual assault cases, the D.C. Council passed a victims rights bill.

“Reporting to the police was far more traumatizing than the rape itself,” Susan, one rape survivor, said in the report, and the Sexual Assault Victims’ Rights Amendment Act was written to change that.

However, while the bill includes the right to have an advocate present during hospital and police interviews, the right to information about rape kits and toxicology reports, and notification when MPD officers contact suspects, the council has scant control over the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecutes felony cases in the District.

A new report provided to Rewire examines the sexual assault prosecution data in D.C.

Written by Elisabeth Olds, an independent consultant hired to review the implementation of SAVRAA, the report intends to “provide an objective starting point for a more constructive dialogue about the prosecution process.”

Olds writes:

The lack of transparency and communication by the USAO has contributed to the perception among advocates and survivors that the USAO’s prosecution rate is extremely low. Meanwhile, the USAO routinely indicates through one-on-one interviews and in community meetings that they are working tirelessly to aggressively prosecute as many cases as possible.

In looking at raw data, the report found that D.C.’s prosecution rate for sexual assault crimes in 2015 was around 18 percent—about in line with the national average.

Here’s how it broke down that year: D.C. Police received 1,177 reports of sexual assault or crimes with a sexual element. Of those, MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit classified 671 reports as sexual assaults. (The others could be upgraded after further investigation, but were not during the year.)

Based on the 671 reports filed, MPD arrested 189 people for sexual assault and 124 of those resulted in a D.C. Superior Court case. Of those filed cases, 37 were dismissed, 20 went to trial (with 14 guilty verdicts and 6 not guilty verdicts), 52 were resolved through a plea bargain, and 10 cases are still ongoing.

But it is the kinds of cases the USAO pursued that led to Olds to conclude that there are patterns which require attention—namely that they overwhelmingly prosecuted cases that conform to so-called “rape myths.”

The USAO does prosecute cases where the facts are difficult when placed before a judge or a jury, cases in which a report is delayed, the victim was drunk or is mentally ill, or where the victim is a sex worker. However, the data in this report shows that those reports are outliers when compared to cases in which a physical injury and assault accompanied the sexual assault.

The report also cites a lack of transparency and communication with survivors that echoes testimony given before the Council committee in February. “My experience with the U.S. Attorney’s Office can only be described as one of torment,” Edurné López testified about how the office handled her 2012 rape report, which they declined to prosecute.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia strongly disagrees with the findings and conclusions of this report,” said USAO spokesperson William Miller in an emailed statement. “We remain steadfastly dedicated to the victims of sexual assault and will provide a more comprehensive response to the Mayor and Council of the District of Columbia at the appropriate time.”

Olds told Rewire that the USAO did not provide her with the data—she instead used police and court records. Notably, Olds writes that D.C.’s USAO is the only one in the country that is not required to provide aggregate criminal justice outcome data biannually to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

One of her recommendations is to require USAO to provide that data. Other proposals include requiring that victims receive a detailed “closing memo” if a warrant for a sexual assault case is declined, training for detectives and prosecutors about consent, a right to an independent advocate during prosecutorial interviews, and better communication of realistic expectations of justice for survivors.

The report was submitted to the D.C. Council and mayor’s office in late October.

Updated with a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.