WHAT'S NEXT

Tell the NYPD to Stop Undercharging Sex Crimes and to Take Rape Seriously!
  1. Signatures
    556 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. New York County District Attorney (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • New York County District Attorney (Cyrus Vance Jr.)
      • NYPD Police Commissioner (Raymond W. Kelly)
  2. Created By
    Jaclyn Munson
    New York, NY
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Dec 25, 2010

When the news broke that the New York Police Department was underreporting sexual assaults in order to make their crimes statistics look better -- potentially allowing a serial rapist to go undetected -- Change.org members were outraged. Thanks to the hundreds of emails sent by members and action taken by advocates and concerned police officers themselves, a special sex crimes task force was convened to fix how the NYPD deals with rape, and the department has promised to implement their recommendations.

Every day, we rely on judicial officials and police officers to protect us from harm's way, providing security to fortify society from those lacking moral scruples. But what happens when those whose duty is it to protect us neglect their responsibilities? The Village Voice has recently reported that many NYPD police precincts are undercharging sex crimes in order to report quantitatively-friendly crime statistics in the city. Failing to report major sex crimes as they truly exist does more harm than good, especially when statistics lead people to believe they may be safer than they actually are. 

Additionally, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., while still promoting his candidacy last year, pledged to publish sex crime statistics that would help determine whether the perpetrators were being prosecuted effectively, thus indicating whether justice is truly being served. The constituents of these statistics in which he pledged to publish included: all sex crimes in New York City definitive of rape and felony charges, total arrests made due to sex crimes, number of indictments, sentences via trial or plea with state time, felony convictions via trial or plea with state sentence, and cases involving individuals acquitted of jail time. He has yet to fulfill his promise. 

Rape is a very serious crime and an act that involves mental, emotion and physical abuse. Apart from physically harming the victim, the act itself is incredibly demeaning and fosters emotional and mental turbulence, a loss of self and many other psychological maladies. 

Rapists give up their right to legal sanctuary and mitigated charges when committing such an abusive crime that takes so much from their victims. These victims deserve as much justice as their abusers deserve proper conviction. Undercharging sex crimes and neglecting to publish statistics precipitates a dangerous pattern- how are officers supposed to detect patterns of sex crimes and rape if they refuse to acknowledge their quantitative existence? 

It's time to speak out against the silence. A safe society is an informed society. 

It's time to take rape seriously!

Recent Signatures

Dear Cyrus Vance Jr. and Raymond W. Kelly

Greetings,

Mr. Kelly, this year, the NYPD has come under attack for undercharging sex crime statistics throughout the city. Refusing to acknowledge the severity and prevalence of rape will not stop the act itself, nor will it provide justice to the victims whose lives have been drastically altered mentally, physically and emotionally by such abuse.

Mr. Vance, you pledged during your campaign to publish sex crimes statistics that would help both judicial officials and police officers detect rape patterns and perpetrators. Such information is useful not only to the public, but to the policer officers regularly responding to such crimes. The coexistence of these unpublished statistics and undercharging sex crimes is an enormous disservice to our city, reflects an attitude of neglect and irresponsibility, and keeps dangerous felons on the streets.

The duty of officers and judicial officials are to honor the public by respecting their right to safety by providing them with the highest quality of justice and conviction. Is it honorable to disengage the public from real crime statistics and to disrespect rape victims by allowing their abusers to be handed a lesser charge for the sake of a nice data set? Will justice be served if rape patterns cannot be detected because rapists are facing only misdemeanor charges?

I urge you, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Vance, please consider the victims and justice itself. Please perform your professional duties and protect the public and victims from culprits of rape and sex crimes not by undercharging them or refusing to publish statistics, but by taking rape seriously.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

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