What happens when you pick up the phone or go to the hospital and decide to report rape? No, really- what comes next? Will your rapist go to jail, or will your detective refer to the strangulation mark on your neck as a "hickey" in his report?
Why is your case less than 1% likely to be prosecuted?
Why is your rapist less than 5% likely to be arrested?
Why is the "jury pool", aka society, the scape goat for all rape cases ending before they start?
What kind of aftermath is the survivor left to deal with?
This episode introduces this series about the realities of reporting rape from first contact with the system, investigation, prosecutorial decision-making, and what it all means for survivors to live in a society where their experiences are continually dismissed for generally all the wrong reasons.

Why are some sexual assaults never disclosed, or disclosed after a delay? How does the first response a survivor receives determine their long-term wellbeing, their likelihood to tell others, their likelihood to report to law enforcement, and their likelihood to stay involved in the criminal process? What are normal responses to traumatic events like rape? How do normal reactions to a traumatic event lead untrained officers and uneducated members of society to believe a victim is lying? What else is going on in the world of patrol officers that can lead them to not believe a sexual assault victim? And lastly, what can be done to fix this? Listen to learn.

On to the next phase of reporting rape: being interviewed by a detective. Will he or she have training in how to do this? It's not a requirement, so who knows! Listen to hear what kind of questions detectives might ask, what they are looking for when they ask them, and what a confrontation call is. 

What does follow-up investigating look like in sexual assault cases?  What are expectations we have vs. reality?  Helpful hint: the difference is stark.  Hear from those who are doing it right, and hear from those who have been failed, once again, by the system.


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What is probable cause? According to the law, a 51% benchmark. According to some captains in police departments, it's somewhere between 70% and beyond a reasonable doubt. In this episode, we talk through investigations from the stand point of probable cause for an arrest, what that looks like, how a case can be presented to a county attorney's office, and the importance of police writing excellent reports. Spoiler alert: they rarely do.

Drug-Facilitated Sexual Assault. How common is it? How do we dispel myths that the victim was just 'mistaken'? The answers are scarier than you'd think.

Find Keith Graves, Drug Recognition Expert and all around amazing investigator's website at: https://gravesassociates.com
And Twitter at @Dopecop

He has a very intensive and incredibly useful DFSA course available on his site. Dear Chiefs of Police: Please invest.

Exceptional Clearance: What is it? It's supposed to be a last resort option when an arrest can't be made, but in practice, it's used far more frequently than intended. It negatively impacts victims and rape investigations. Listen along with investigative reporter Mark Fahey to learn more.

What factors go into the decisions that prosecutors make about whether or not to try sexual assault cases? Less than 1% of sexual assaults are tried nationally each year. Hear all of the excuses about why that is.