Lawmen train for sex cases

Facts on rape and sexual trauma flashed across the screen of WSU’s CUB May 20 during a regional training seminar on sexual assault.

Law enforcement and prosecutors from Whitman and Latah counties, along with WSU students, listened to a day of education on sex offenders, investigations and victims.

National speaker Anne Munch, focused primarily on rape cases. Munch, who served as a prosecutor in Denver for seven years, spoke extensively about what she said were inequalities faced by the victim in the Kobe Bryant rape case several years ago.

Whitman County Deputy Chris Chapman said he walked away from the conference with some tips for investigations, such as interviewing a victim twice a few days after an incident.

Chapman added most sexual assaults in rural Whitman County are related to crimes against children, not the rape cases involving students at WSU and the UI. He, along with four other officers, are trained as the county’s sexual assault officers.

Later in the morning, Munch talked about the habits of sex offenders and presented some statistics. At the end of the day, Munch presented a section on conducting investigations.

Most rapes are not committed by strangers; the victim often knows the offender.

A Denver-area survey of 2,000 men, selected at random and given complete anonymity, had a return of 150 who said they committed at least one rape.

“That’s scary. To be a woman on campus makes you think twice about what you’re going to do at night,” Chapman said.

Another revealed that only five percent of rapists ever spend a day in jail. Also, sex offenders will often commit sex crimes against a range of age groups and genders- not just adult women, Munch said.

Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse sponsored the event. This is a non-profit agency that offers emergency, legal, and shelter services to domestic violence or sexual violence victims in the region.

About 392 victims and survivors were served by Alternatives between July 2008 and June 2009.

“I think that she gave us a lot of good insight about the effect on victims- and how those effects can be measured and used as evidence,” said Bekah MillerMacPhee, sexual assault prevention educator with Alternatives.

Myths surrounding sexual assault were also explored by Munch. Juries often ask in a case, what was the victim wearing? Was she drinking too? Our society has underlying biases in relation to these factors, Munch said.

“We have created a perfect environment for perpetrators,” she said.

Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy said he gathered some useful tips on how to talk to jurors about victims.

In response to residents wanting to know what a victim was wearing at the time of an assault, Munch pointed out that we don’t blame a man who is dressed up in rich clothes when he is robbed because it looks like he has money.

“That still doesn’t excuse the conduct of the person who then goes ahead and victimizes that person,” Tracy said.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Byron Bedirian noted Munch pointed out that details like how the victim is feeling and what they saw during the crime can be helpful, if not more so, than traditional evidence like a breathalyzer test results, Bedarian said.

“It was a good reminder not to just get formulaic and not to ignore those things that are non-traditional to an investigation,” he said.