Pittsburgh sees spike in rapes
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The number of rapes reported in Pittsburgh in the first six months of this year has jumped by 65 percent and law enforcement officials and those who work with sexual assault victims believe the spike could be attributed to better reporting by victims. From January to June 2001, 48 rapes were reported in Pittsburgh, according to Pittsburgh police statistics. In the first six months of 2002, 79 rapes were reported in the city.
The jump comes as the number of reported rapes around the state has dropped compared to the same period last year.
Statewide, 1,474 rapes were reported in the first six months of 2001, while 1,414 rapes were reported in the first six months of 2002, according to the Pennsylvania State Police’s Uniform Crime Reporting System. That’s a decrease of about 4 percent.
Using the same comparison, Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh and its suburbs, experienced a 19.2 percent increase in reported rapes. Philadelphia County experienced an 18.6 percent decrease in reported rapes.
When law enforcement officials see such a jump in a short time, they first look for “serial activity,” said Pittsburgh police Cmdr. William Valenta.
But city police found the rapes happened between people who knew each other, not by a serial rapist, leading officials to surmise that more people are reporting the crime.
“It’s bad for crime stats, but it’s encouraging to see that more women are coming forward to report the crime,” Valenta said.
Rape is, and has always been, an underreported crime, said Melissa Tai, a spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Action Against Rape.
She cited a Bureau of Justice Statistics report that just more than 28 percent of rapes were reported in 1999 – and that’s an improvement considering 16 percent of rapes were reported in the early 1990s.
Experts can only speculate as to why more people are reporting the crime, Tai said, but it could be that fewer people believe victims of rape are to blame, thus relieving the victims’ feelings of guilt and shame.
“We like to think that we’ve had some part in taking that stigma away and putting the blame where it belongs,” Tai said.
The jump is big, but a six-month period is not long enough to determine a trend and the statistic should be revisited once the year comes to a close, said Deborah McManus, of the Allegheny County Center for Victims of Violent Crime.
Pittsburgh police reported in June that the number of reported rapes increased by 4.7 percent between 2000 and 2001.
Crime statistics can also fluctuate from month to month and from area to area, Valenta said. For example, in the zone of the city he oversees, there was an unusual dip in rape reports in 2001 and a surge in 2002.
He also wants more people to report rape, even if they choose not to press charges.
“At least we’ll have information about a person who could commit a crime again,” Valenta said.