A recent US Department of Justice report examining racial bias among police officers in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, also found a police culture that is consistently biased against women who report sexual violence, particularly women of color. The report highlighted how sexual assault victims are often dismissed, humiliated and disregarded by police, and in some cases, by prosecutors. Police fail to properly investigate allegations of rape and, according to a report by the Baltimore Sun, “the percentage of rape cases dismissed as false or baseless was higher in Baltimore than in any other city in the country.” Local advocates say that the Baltimore police department’s hostile attitudes towards women will deter women from reporting violence.
Compiled from: Stolberg, Sheryl Gay and Bidgood, Jess, Some Women Won’t ‘Ever Again’ Report a Rape in Baltimore, The New York Times (August 11, 2016).