Only one rape victim in five is talking to the police – Obs

The majority of victims of rape in France do not lodge a complaint after their assault, and a victim out of five do not speak the same in person, according to a study by the national Observatory of delinquency and penal answers (ONDRP) published on Wednesday 8 February.

The data, based on the investigations, “living environment and security” 2008 – 2015, show that rape is still, for the victims, a taboo.

If this crime, which is punishable by 15 years imprisonment, is “the sexual assault, the most serious and probably the most traumatic for the victim”, it is also paradoxically “one of the offenses least reported to police,” stressed the ONDRP.

1 in 5 victims do not tell anyone about

In detail, about a victim of rape on five moves to the gendarmerie or the police to report the assault (19%). 70% of these victims will file a complaint, 4% a handrail, 2% will leave without a statement.

persons who have filed a complaint or a handrail to say rather satisfied with the time and listening given (79%), as well as conditions of confidentiality (80%).

The victims who are displaced to the police, they have complained or not, are also more likely to confide in a third person such as a doctor (11%).

But if 63% of victims of rape reported said that they have spoken to a close, nearly one rape victim in five will talk about that in person, according to the study. The authors note :

“It would appear that this proportion is higher when the abuser lives in the same dwelling as the victim. In other words, the victims of rape committed by a member of the household seem to speak relatively less often of their assault to a third person.”

no events

How do you explain that so few victims are moving to the police or to the gendarmerie ? To avoid “additional tests” in 62% of cases, according to the ONDRP. And because they think “that it would not matter” in 66% of cases. 31% of victims who do not speak to the police also believe that the acts suffered were not severe enough to move.

Muriel Salmona, psychiatrist and president of the association traumatic Memory and victimology, explained to on the Most the mechanisms that prevent the victims from talking. She quoted the “about culpabilisants and contemptuous” of the aggressors, but also of the circle :

“The victims have a fear of not being believed and of being questioned, often rightfully, unfortunately. A lot of people and professionals were expected to help and support them are contaminated by stereotypes catastrophic, since the victim is frequently suspected of lying, of being responsible for what happened to him, to have been consenting, this is what we call the culture of rape.”

Rape : stereotypes, myths and misconceptions die hard

62.000 women and 2,700 men aged 20 to 69 years of age are victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault each year, according to the national Institute of demographic studies.

A. R.

Methodology

The data used for the study are derived from victimisation surveys “framework of life and security” conducted between 2008 and 2015 by Insee and the ONDRP. The sample of 290 persons aged 18 to 75 years old, French and living in metropolitan France, and who have suffered rape in the course of the two years prior to the survey – out attempts. Due to the size of the sample, “the present study does not allow to make orders of magnitude,” says the ONDRP.