Students increase and so do questions on rape
By Jim Moore
Of the Emerald
The influx of University
students into Eugene each fall is
matched by an increase in the
number of questions about rape,
rape crisis workers report.
Calls to the Rape Crisis Network
dramatically increase between the
months of September and Oc
tober, a jump contrary to national
trends, according to figures com
piled by the Network's director
Gail Wiemann.
Wiemann says the totals of
other months generally concur
with national totals and she feels
there is a correlation between the
rise in calls and return of students.
"Nationally, both rape victims
and rapists are between the ages
of 15 and 25," according to
Wiemann, so the fall increase of
activity at the Network does not
surprise her.
But she is alarmed by another
aspect of the statistics, a steady
rise in the number of calls to the
Network.
Queries to the Network's
hotline jumped 13 percent bet
ween 1981 and 1982 and calls
received through May of 1983
already rival 1981 's total.
Ironically, her figures, as well as
those compiled by the Eugene
police department, show a decline
in the number of reported rapes
between 1981 and 1982. But the 94
rapes already reported to the Net
work through May 1983 threaten
to make this year's total exceed
any of the past.
Another irony surfaces when
comparing rapes reported to the
police department with those to
the Rape Crisis Network. The Net
work receives as many as three
times more reports than the
police.
Wiemann says that is because
people generally feel uneasy deal
ing with such emotional and
traumatic tragedies as rape or
child molesting. Police, rather
than offering support or comfort
for the victim or the victim's fami
ly, are usually concerned with ask
ing questions and gathering infor
mation pertinent to a court case.
The Network, however, pro
vides men and women trained to
listen and console, as well as offer
pragmatic advice.
Wiemann and her co-worker
Margo Beider, who is the Net
work's community education
director, have trained volunteers
to deal with the sensitive ques
tions and problems of callers.
Those volunteers have gained ex
perience through the years, mak
ing the Network more attractive
than the police, Beider says.
Another reason few victims con
tact police is they may want to
protect the rapist.
“Most rapists are known by the
woman who is victimized," says
Wiemann, who started at the Net
work as a volunteer in 1979. The
scenario commonly presented by
television and movies of a
psychotic loner roaming streets
and preying on unknown women
is a misrepresentation of how
most rapes occur, she says.
Such depictions disturb
Wiemann because of the
messages sent to the general
public about what rape is and how
it happens.
She points out that juries are
reluctant to find guilt when the
victim knows the rapist, theoriz
ing that somehow the woman was
partly responsible for what hap
pened. After all, the rapist was a
friend or relative or neighbor, not
an escapee from a mental
institution.
Consequently, district attorneys
are bringing to trial fewer and
fewer rape cases involving familiar
parties because the chances'for a
conviction are slim.
The result is, those rapes that
happen most often have become
those that are least prosecuted.
That trend is particularly
distressing with the current rise of
calls to the Network and indica
tions that they may increase.
One cause of the Network's in
creased activity in the past few
years may be related to the
economy and to the swelling of
the unemployment ranks ex
perienced in Lane County,
Wiemann says.
Increased stress in men because
of loss of job or income often
manifests itself in a violent reac
tion sometimes directed at family
members such as a wife or
children, she says.
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The decrease in the Sheriff's
department staff and response
capability due to a defeat of a
county tax levy might increase the
possibility of a Lane County
woman being attacked, speculates
Eugene police detective David
Poppe. And that pertains to
women in Eugene as well.
"I wouldn't doubt there would
be some increase in Eugene," says
Poppe, who works as a sex-crime
investigator.
Wiemann says she agrees with
that assessment, but adds she is
more concerned with the other
result of the vote. With the crowd
ed condition of local and state
jails, she fears even less prosecu
tion of typical rape cases, believ
ing they will receive an even lower
priority by the district attorney's
office than they have in the past.
Poppe concurs, saying he ex
pects a "more stringent screening
of cases." Probably only the worst
cases will come to trial now, he
says, and in the case of rape that
means an attack by a stranger.
District Attorney Pat Horton has
never hidden the fact that he dis
NUMBER OF RAPES REPORTED IN 1983
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dains taking to court a case he
might lose. After the county tax
levy defeat, he announced an
even harder approach, saying his
office would now only prosecute
those cases certain to bring
convictions.
In the case of rape, that means
many rapes, even if reported and
acted upon by the police, may
never reach a courtroom.
With the possibility of an in
crease in the incidence of rape
and a decrease of police help in
Lane County's future, Wiemann
and the Network have some ad
vice to offer women.
Wiemann urges an increased
awareness by women who take to
Continued on Paige 6
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