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The Press
January 2, 2002
Call for experts in sex-crime unit
NZPA
Wellington -- Police need specially trained sex crime investigators, a
Victoria University doctor of criminology says.
Jan Jordan -- who recently published the thesis True "Lies" And
False "Truths": Women, Rape And The Police -- said a key benefit of
having police specialists would be their knowledge of victim psychology.
Women had been portrayed as liars from as long ago as the Garden Of Eden. Dr Jordan's
research -- which involved interviewing several rape victims and
investigators -- concludes that these doubts about rape complainants'
credibility dominated police inquiries.
"Many rapists walk free because the myths about rape are still evident --
`women lie' -- so their claims of rape are dismissed," she said.
Dr Jordan
said the police hierarchy had been reluctant to specialise in sex crime
investigations, using resourcing as an excuse, but the trend suggested that
sex offences were not a priority.
Police, and often society's disbelieving view of rape was highlighted by New
Zealand law, up until the mid-1980s, allowing men to rape their wives.
The seriousness of sex crimes was reflected by New Zealand statutes imposing a
stiffer penalty for rape than for any other crime where the victim survived.
"There are key individuals within all levels of police that think it is
a priority. But the over- all organisation has to realise the damage done by
this offence, and the benefits from providing better services over all to
victims."
One false notion held by some investigators was that 50 per cent of rape
complainants were lying.
International research consistently revealed police approached rape victims
with overly inflated doubts about their credibility.
While there are no firm statistics, United States research holds the
level of false complaints at between 2 per cent and 5 per cent.
Dr Jordan
said another myth was the perception that rape victims needed to deal with a
woman police officer. Her research found victims were more concerned with
having someone who believed them, was sensitive and professional -- usually
irrespective of gender.
In some cases, female police interviewing victims had over- compensated and
been harder on victims to fit into the police culture and be "one of the
boys".
Dr Jordan
said specially trained sex crime investigators would, ideally, be aware of
victim psychology and realise that some complainants got facts wrong because
they were in trauma and confused, not because they were lying.
Police was looking at a policy of taking delayed statements, allowing victims
to take a break after completing the initial -- and forensically valuable --
medical examination.
This had to be considered along with the need for police to get a head start
in catching the offender.
In about 90 per cent of rape cases, however, the offender was already known
to the victim.
Dr Jordan
said having specialist sex crime investigators would not prevent police
analysing evidence and still deciding not to lay charges. Although it was not
the police's role to act as judge and jury, they could use their discretion
and explain their reasons clearly to the victim.
This was important so victims understood that their case was not proceeding because
of a lack of evidence, not because they were not believed.
Dr Jordan
said the police hierarchy had been responsive to her research and were
increasingly recognising the value of victims in successful law enforcement.
The need was for specialists, she said, not necessarily a full- time
dedicated squad.
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