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                            Endnotes


1. FBI Uniform Crime Reports show 39,160 arrests for 102,555
reported rapes. Simple division reveals that 38% of reported rapes
result in an arrest. From this arrest rate we apply our own
conviction rate of 43% (see Chapter IV), which yields an overall
conviction rate of 16%. Thus 84% of rape victims will not see their
attacker arrested and convicted. Finally, applying our
incarceration rate of 76% extrapolated from the state survey (see
Chapter IV), we yield a 12% overall incarceration rate. Therefore,
using the contrapositive of this figure we conclude that 88% of
those who are victims of rape will never see their attacker spend
time behind bars.

2. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 64% of all
completed rapes and 53% of all attempted rapes are committed by an
acquaintance. (Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 1991,
Table 3.27, United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics.) This is likely to be a conservative estimate. Susan
Estrich notes in Real Rape that simple rape, i.e. by someone the
victim knows, is not less likely, it is simply less likely to be
talked about, (Estrich at 15). Citing a Massachusetts study, she
notes that two-thirds of women who reported rapes to rape crisis
centers knew their attackers, however, the majority did not report
their attack to the police. (Estrich, Real Rape, at 11, citing "An
Analysis of Sexual Assaults Reported to Rape Crisis Center in
Massachusetts," Candace Waldron and Elizabeth Dodson-Cole; Boston,
Massachusetts, Department of Public Health, 1986.)

3. Our figures of an over 40% dismissal rate are consistent with
figures for major metropolitan locations, which show dismissal
rates in 1988 as follows: Portland (44%); San Diego (43%);
Manhattan (76%); and Washington, D.C. (67%). (US Department of
Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, The Prosecution of Felony
Arrests. 1988, Table 1.) Dismissal rates tend to drop dramatically
the further the case progresses. (See id., Tables 2 and 3.)

BJS shows a dismissal rate of 24% in sexual assault cases and 32%
for rape cases. Our figures are comparable to their rape figures,
since we eliminated any case involving a charge for lesser sexual
offenses. It is not clear from the BJS data at what point in the
system, they measure "dismissal"; figures may vary depending upon
the base level of offenses used to calculate the dismissal rate.
For example, prosecutors and state authorities typically claim that
their "dismissal" rate for rape and other cases is low. They refer
to two sources; to "post-indictment" dismissals, which are quite
low, (See Table 3 in BJS, The Prosecution of Felony Arrests, 1988),
and to the rates of dismissal during trial which are also quite
low.