County-level Trends in Sex Crimes Case Processing: A Multi-year (1999-2014) Multi-data Set Analysis from Pennsylvania

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

Sexual assault is underreported, even when there are laws making the reporting of such crimes mandatory. Further, very few cases result in convictions. This study uses four datasets for the years 1999-2014 to examine the reporting and processing of sexual violence cases in Pennsylvania: (a) contact and reporting to police data compiled by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape from monthly reports by all rape crisis centers in the state, (b) reporting and substantiation data from the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth, and Families, (c) Uniform Crime Reports arrest data for sex crimes, and (d) child and adult sex crimes sentencing data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. County-level demographic and expenditures data are used to contextualize the data, and time trends are used to examine the effects of legal factors (e.g., changes in reporting) and historical factors (e.g., celebrity cases) on the reporting and processing of child and adult sexual assault cases. Policy implications are discussed.

Authors

• Kim Menard, Penn State Altoona

• R. Barry Ruback, Pennsylvania State University