
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 28, 1993                   TAG: 9305280132
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

RAPE PUNISHMENT LIGHT, REPORT FINDS

Almost half of all rape cases in the United States are dismissed before trial and almost half of the rapists who are convicted serve less than a year behind bars, a Senate Judiciary Committee report said Thursday.

"The disparity in how our system prosecutes rape, in contrast to other violent crime, mirrors the disparity in our society's attitude toward these acts," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the committee chairman, said in announcing the results of the six-month study by the panel's majority staff. Accused robbers and murderers, the report said, are much more likely to be tried and convicted.

The study was made public in conjunction with the committee's unanimous approval of a Violence Against Women Act that would stiffen penalties for federal sex offenses, provide about $500 million in grants to reduce attacks against women and permit victims of gender-based felonies to sue their attackers for damages without waiting for criminal prosecution.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, joined Biden in sponsoring the bipartisan measure and described it as "a package that should and will become law . . . a landmark bill that should make a difference in our society."

Hatch said he was encouraged by the addition to Biden's original bill of a number of GOP initiatives, including recommendations for improving the ethical conduct of lawyers litigating sex offense cases.

The report on rape prosecutions was based on a survey of criminal justice agencies in states representing more than 50 percent of the population. It found that only about one of every 10 rapes reported to police result in any time served in prison.

"Almost half [48 percent] of all rape cases are dismissed before trial," the study said. Of rapists who are convicted, the report added, 21 percent are released on probation and another 24 percent are sentenced to a local jail, "which typically means they will spend 11 months behind bars."

Although statutory sentences for forcible rape often include life imprisonment, the committee's majority staff reported, they often are diluted by judges and prosecutors who tend to favor sentencing "all first-time offenders - including rapists - to probation on the theory that first-time offenders are less dangerous to the community."

Calling that assumption questionable for rape cases, the report said, "it means that a convicted rapist may rape twice, in effect, before he ever sees the inside of a prison cell."

One of the main problems, the study said, is that prosecutors "are hesitant to bring any case . . . in which the offender knew the victim." The report said such mindsets lead to widespread underreporting of rape and family violence cases.

by CNB