Justice Denied: The Exceptional Clearance of Rape Cases in Los Angeles
![handle is hein.journals/albany74 and id is 1389 raw text is: JUSTICE DENIED?: THE EXCEPTIONAL CLEARANCE OF
RAPE CASES IN LOS ANGELES
Cassia Spohn*
Katharine Tellis**
With homicide your victim isn't going to be interviewed;
their trauma is over. In most property crimes sure there is
trauma, your car was stolen. But nothing can compare to
sexual assault. We don't get enough training in trauma, in
dealing with the trauma of victims, and the when and how of
interviewing them. It's a very unique crime that victims don't
get over, and they definitely won't get over it as long as the
perp is rolling around.
-Detective, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.'
I worked patrol for a long time and I was one of those
officers. The key is not to get jaded and to realize that weird
stuff does happen with regards to sex crimes. Patrol officers
are our first line of contact for victims and once they [victims]
have a bitter taste in their mouths it's difficult. Guys [police
officers] are nervous to handle it because they don't know how
to talk about it and are too embarrassed to say penis, etc. I'm
not saying that women rule, because there are guys out there
that are fabulous. But, fortunately or unfortunately, patrol
has first contact [with victims].
-Detective, Los Angeles Police Department.2
* School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University.
** School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics, California State University, Los Angeles.
The authors wish to express their deepest gratitude to the Los Angeles Police Department,
the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's
Office for their partnership. We would also like to thank the victims' advocacy agencies and
the survivors who so courageously shared their stories with us in hopes of improving the
criminal justice response to sexual assault. Finally, we are indebted to Eryn O'Neal who
provided invaluable help coding case files. This project was supported by Award No. 2009-
WG-BX-009 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of
the Department of Justice.
I Interview with Detective, L.A. Cnty. Sheriffs Dep't (2010) (transcript on file with
authors).
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Justice Denied: The Exceptional Clearance of Rape Cases in Los Angeles
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