sexual-assault-reporting

Catching campus rapists via an online reporting tool


The University of San Francisco is piloting an online reporting tool to support rape victims and help bring their attackers to justice.

sexual-assault-reportingColleges have been heavily criticized in recent years for the high frequency of sexual assaults on campus—and for their failure to support victims adequately and punish attackers. Now, the University of San Francisco is hoping that a new web-based reporting tool will help victims of sexual assault take back control of their lives, file charges if they choose—and identify serial attackers.

The new tool, known as Callisto, is the product of Sexual Health Innovations, a nonprofit organization that first unveiled the concept during a “data jam” held by the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault in 2014. USF will be the first college to implement the new tool when it launches a pilot this August.

A central goal of the new tool is to increase the willingness of students to report an attack in the first place. According to the CDC, an estimated one in five women is the victim of an attack during their time in college, yet only 10 percent of them ever report it.

“The decision to report a sexual assault by talking to campus police or local police—or even someone in a university office—can be a daunting process,” says Peter Novak, vice provost for student life at USF. “If we can make that process available to students in the privacy of their own room to learn about that process more effectively, then we think it will provide many more options for students.”

(Next page: Timestamped records and identifying serial rapists)

The tool uses text boxes and multiple-choice questions to help victims describe what happened. “The form tackles the where, the who and the how one at a time,” said Jessica Ladd, founder and CEO of SHI. “We’re trying to use trauma-informed investigator techniques to phrase those questions the best way. We’re trying to striking a balance between getting the information we need but also not forcing somebody to check a box that doesn’t apply.”

Timestamped records

Underlying the structure of the reporting tool is a recognition that survivors often need weeks or even years before they are emotionally ready to take action—if ever—but that waiting to record the details of an attack poses legal issues.

“As time passes, survivors are often less likely to be believed or they feel as if they’re less likely to be believed,” said Ladd. “Also, memories change over time and the details are harder to remember. So, if survivors take months or years to report, there’s not enough there for schools or the judicial system to act on.”

USF and SHI hope that Callisto will encourage victims to detail their attacks sooner than later, even if they don’t plan to file an official report right away. To preserve the evidentiary value of a victim’s account of a rape, the tool timestamps every entry to the record, ensuring an accurate timeline of the victim’s testimonial.

Not all details of an attack can be recalled right away, however. Indeed, the trauma associated with rape means that some details may not be remembered for a long time. “A student might walk by a building, hear a song, or see a t-shirt that reminds her of something in the incident,” explained Novak. “Callisto not only dates and timestamps the new information, but also asks the very important question, ‘Why are you changing this information at this point?'”

If a victim does decide to file an official report via Callisto, she will submit it online to the university, which will then contact her to follow up. “It’s a little less scary, because you’ve started this process in the comfort of your own home in a way where you’re totally in control and in a way where you feel confident,” said Ladd.

Despite this, many victims may never take that final step and file an official report. Whatever information they do provide via Callisto, however, can be invaluable in better understanding the scope of the sexual assault problem on campus.

“Even though a student can choose to report or not, we still will get data from Callisto about how many students are accessing the system and how far into the system they went,” said Novak, who plans to track usage to identify any patterns. “What if a whole lot of students are suddenly looking at Callisto one weekend? Does a certain time period result in more sexual assault on campus? It’s going to give us a lot of information to help us create a healthier environment on campus.”

Catching serial rapists

An opt-in Callisto feature known as matching escrow has perhaps the most potential for effecting real change on campus. Designed to identify serial rapists, it sends an alert to the university if more than one victim identifies the same attacker, regardless of whether they file an official report. If successful, the tool would represent a huge step in making college campuses safer: According to a 2002 study by psychologist David Lisak, 90 percent of sexual assaults on campus are perpetrated by serial offenders.

Working in Callisto’s favor, the task of identifying a rapist on campus generally poses less of a problem than elsewhere. “There’s a common myth that sexual assault on college campus occurs by people who jump out of bushes,” said Novak. “That is very rare. It is mostly perpetrators who are known to the victim.”

To avoid misidentification—a student with the same name, for example—the matching escrow feature prompts victims to provide corroborating information, such as a telephone number, a Facebook page, a campus address, or e-mail. “While we do ask for the name of the accused assailant, that’s not what we’ll actually use to create a match,” said Ladd. In the event of a match, Callisto forwards reports from all victims who have identified the same assailant to the university for action.

Survivor support

Even if survivors choose not to pursue action against a rapist, Callisto can help them regain their footing, size up their options, and understand what support structures are available through the university and elsewhere.

“We want them to know that we can help them academically and personally, so that they can maintain their work in the classroom and can feel safe while they’re here,” said Novak, noting that victims might have difficulty concentrating in class, for example, or want to create a no-contact order against the alleged perpetrator. “These are the same things we discuss when we meet in person with a victim, but the online environment gives them more time to reflect on their own desires and wants.”

Indeed, the very fact that Callisto is an online tool may be one of its greatest strengths, giving victims a sense of anonymity and protection until they are ready to proceed. “This is the way young people do things—this is the way they do particularly uncomfortable things or stigmatized things,” said Ladd, who emphasizes that the data entered by victims is fully encrypted. “It feels a lot safer than going in and talking to another human being.”

Andrew Barbour is a contributing editor for eCampus News.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.