Rape under-reported in TT

These persons, as we have noted, do not reflect the real number of rape victims in the society. There are, in fact, no reliable statistics in Trinidad and Tobago about how many women have been raped or otherwise been the victim of unwanted sexual activity. The figure of one in four has been bandied about, but this number was taken wholesale from United States statistics, and that figure has itself been revised downward to one in eight. But the most recent poll carried out by Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) found that 47 percent of persons do not report crimes, while an earlier poll done by the UWI Criminology Centre found a non-reportage of 66 percent of criminal acts.

What is in little doubt is that, whatever the true figure is in respect to rape, it is much too high. While the rapes which most often get reported are those which are part of robbery or assault, the fact is that most rape victims know their attackers. This should make it easier to battle this particular crime, but several factors mitigate against victims reporting the attack.

The first factor, significantly, is not always that of stigma. Raped women feel stigmatised if they live in repressive societies where women are second-class citizens. Indeed, in such societies, reporting a rape may lead to the woman being ostracised, even imprisoned, so, inevitably, rape becomes common. But in Trinidad and Tobago, women (and men) now understand that rape is a wrong done to them for which they bear no responsibility. However, it is true that some women do feel a sense of shame, and one of the main functions of the counsellors at the Rape Crisis Centre is to help women overcome this. For when women do not report being attacked in this vile manner, then the rapist remains free to commit the crime again.

But, even if a woman understands that no stigma attaches itself to being a rape victim, she may still be reluctant to report the crime. This is because she cannot be sure of a sympathetic response at the first point of officialdom — the police station. Although officers are supposed to be trained on how to handle such reports, we too often hear of a certain, if not callousness, at least fault-finding. And, though it may be true that some victims have put themselves in high-risk situations, officers must realise that this does not justify treating the woman as though she is the one at fault. And, of course, the woman’s task is not made easier by the fact that she must make the report before she has bathed, since this would wash away crucial evidence. But we doubt that police officers are willing to go to the victim’s home if a report is phoned in.

But, even if the woman does get professional and sympathetic treatment from the police, she must then face the court trial, which often means that she has to go through the trauma of recounting the incident. But women, to their credit, do often make this choice, fuelled by the desire to see their attacker put behind bars.

In the midst of almost-daily murders, it is easy to ignore such "lesser" crimes. However, if we do so, we only embolden criminals, and that of itself worsens all types of crime. Rape, as an act which affects mostly women, attacks the very heart of our society, and we must do all we can to combat it.