According to Department of Justice figures compiled by RAINN, six out of 10 assaults are never reported to police. "Of the 40 percent that are reported, roughly half will never will never lead to an arrest — and of the cases remaining, many of those won’t lead to prosecution," Berkowitz said.Also,
"So when you boil it down, 15 out of 16 attackers will never spend a day in prison," he says.
When Kristen Bakalar was pulled into a wooded area by a stranger and raped, three weeks after beginning college, she didn’t think twice about reporting it.
It was only on the witness stand, as the 18-year-old was being quizzed about her sex life and about the precise color and length of her pubic hair, that she fully realized just how brutal the experience of bringing her rapist to justice would be.
Bakalar, now 30, doesn’t pretend to know what happened between former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the hotel maid accusing him of attempted rape. But she does know what it’s like to be the accuser in a rape investigation. And she fears that the messy, high-profile case, with its public glare on past faults of the accuser, will have a chilling effect on women reporting rapes.
"I can see victims out there contemplating coming forward, and saying, ’What’s the point?’" says Bakalar, whose attacker is serving a 20-year sentence for the rape. "If they’re on the fence, and they see this, instead of taking a step forward they might take a step back."
I highly recommend reading the entire article.
"Some Fear Chilling Effect on Women Reporting Rapes"
