Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Michelle N. Issadore" <>]

Hello,

Our student newspaper received a letter to the editor refuting the 
commonly used FBI statistic that only 8% sexual assault reports are 
unfounded, comparable to every other violent crime. As the statistic 
appears to be from 1996 and I can no longer track down the original, 
does anyone have a suggestion for how to diffuse the situation while 
simultaneously strengthening our point that false reporting is highly 
uncommon?

The letter is below, if anyone has information that contradicts what is 
stated.

"There are a multitude of reasons not to use the FBI/UCR statistics to 
try to quantify the problem of rape, and/or the false reporting of rape, 
but what I find most frustrating is the misuse of these statistics by 
both sides to advance their agendas.

Unlike Ms. Issadore and far too many of her colleagues, I have actually 
obtained from the FBI, the Crime Index Unfounded rates from 1983 to 
2001, the most current statistics available at the time.

During that period, the "unfounded" rate for rape, at its highest, in 
1983 ( 10.1%), was three times the average of all other Index crimes 
(3.3%). At its lowest rate, in 2001 (5.8%), it was over four times the 
average (1.38%). Each of those nineteen years it skewed the average of 
all Index crimes by having the highest unfounded rate of all. There are 
plenty of reasons the unfounded rate should not be used to measure false 
reports, but some keep citing it anyway, lured by the temptation to use 
a statistic, even one used incorrectly, from such an authoritative 
source as the FBI, typically to advance an agenda."

Thanks,
Michelle

--
Michelle N. Issadore
Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator
Lehigh University Women’s Center
University Center Room C201A
29 Trembley Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015
(610) 758-5808; (610) 758-6960 fax