Justice for a Crime Writer Turned Victim and Survivor - When the system fails, you rewrite the rules.

I was recently compelled to exchange crime writing for crime fighting when a man drugged and sexually assaulted me at a crime writers conference. Despite doing everything a victim is required to do, despite evidence, many credible witnesses and video surveillance, the Dallas Police refused to investigate fully. Furthermore, they misrepresented and misapplied Texas law as the rationale.

We are asking for change. It is time for Dallas Police to be accountable to victims and survivors. We ask for a response by letting us know HOW they will prevent this from happening in the future.

• What systems and processes will you put into place to balance the power of a single individual within the criminal justice system?
• How will you ensure survivors are kept safe?
• How will you engage with survivors to learn about their experiences so that you can develop policies and practices that ensure they feel safe?

There are no protocols in place to address this premature closing of the case. Every person I’ve talked with including the Texas Attorney General’s office agreed that DPD procedure demands certain basic elements of an investigation occur. All were outraged that in my case, the DPD did not follow their own procedures.Yet none of them have direct jurisdiction to force the DPD to reopen the case.

Haleh Cochran, a longtime advocate and support specialist with the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) shared, “The majority of my career has involved working with survivors whose cases have been ignored or dismissed not due to lack of evidence, but because of misinformation or biases.”

My only way forward is to publicly call on the Dallas DA’s office as they have the jurisdiction to reopen and thoroughly investigate my case. But this doesn’t affect just me. This effects all of us who care about survivors and who care about Texas and the thousands of conferences and tourists who travel to Dallas every year.

Victims of sexual assault are easily dismissed and discounted. Yet statistically women (and men) lie exponentially more about crimes involving money[1]. It has been estimated that women lie about assault .002% - .008% of the time[2], while lies about insurance fraud alone are at about 10%. That means someone whose house was robbed is over 1000 times more likely to lie about it than a woman who files a police report for rape. Yet these violent crimes are easily swept under the rug with little or no investigation.

Regardless of whether or not this has happened to you, your support makes a difference in ensuring a safer community for all of us. If you want the Dallas Police to respond to how they will prevent this from happening in the future, sign the petition and let them know you stand behind survivors of sexual violence.

[1] https://insurancefraud.org/fraud-stats/

[2] An article in the Minnesota Law Review noted that only 2-8% percent of rape claims are false. It also pointed out that most rapes go unreported. As a result, the ratio of false reports is likely closer to .002% or .008% of all incidents. Property-casualty insurance fraud alone, let alone other crimes of money, is lied about 10% of the time stealing around $308.6 billion from consumers every year. This means someone who reports a property-casualty insurance claim is 1250-5000 times more likely to be lying than a woman who reports a sexual assault.