[This report says that South Africa has the highest rape statistics on Interpol… and yet, researchers in South Africa say the reality could be ten times worse!! The other joke is that our chief of Police now heads Interpol!! Amazing huh? If you’re an incompetant black police chief – they put you in charge of the most important police organisation in the world!! Jan]

Incidents of rape and attempted rape could be nearly 10 times higher than the 240 per 100 000 women reported to police each year, a Medical Research Council (MRC) study has found.

“Rape reported to the police represents the tip on an iceberg of coercion,” Dr Rachel Jewkes and Naeema Abrahams, of the MRC, said in a report commissioned by the Crime Prevention Research Resources Centre (RRC).

The report was released at a seminar at the centre in Pretoria on the role of statistics and research in combating rape.

South African police statistics on rape were the highest among Interpol members, Statistics SA said in its report on rape, also released at the seminar. The report, commissioned by President Thabo Mbeki, presents an overview of available statistics on rape from various studies.

SA rape stats are the highest among Interpol members
Representative community-based studies had shown there were 2 070 incidents of rape and attempted rape each year, Dr Jewkes said at a media briefing after the seminar.

Non-consensual sex in marriage and dating relationships were even more common, she said. “Many women are forced to have sex when they seek employment, or in the classroom.”

The patriarchal nature of society, with its prevalent notions of male sexual entitlement, was the most important social force behind the rape problem, the report said.

“This is reflected in and reinforced by the lack of seriousness with which the crime is treated by some members of the community, the police and sections of the criminal justice system.”

Alcohol abuse, poverty, boredom and highly prevalent violence also contributed to the high prevalence of rape, Dr Jewkes said.

Many women are forced to have sex when they seek employment
Dr Chris de Kock, of the SA Police crime information analysis centre, said some people believed rape could cure them of Aids. That accounted for the increase in the rape of older women and children.

There was reason to believe that police statistics were definitely not as invalid as some had made them out to be, Dr De Kock said.

According to him, the margin of error was about 5 percent.

Stats SA acting head Dr Ros Hirschowitz said that, according to Saps statistics, 70 women of every 100 000 of the population – about half of those that had been raped – reported the incident to the police.

This was close to Stats SA’s own figure of 68.

She said research had shown that proportionally fewer older women were raped, with most victims aged between 16 and 30.

About a third of all rapes were committed by relatives or men intimate with the victims.

“The older the woman, the more likely that she was raped by a stranger,” Dr Hirschowitz said.

More than half the rapes reported to the police were committed by strangers.

In most cases women were raped with the threat of physical injury. Almost half of all rapes occurred inside the victims’ homes.

Saturday was found to be the most likely day of the week for rape, particularly between 7pm and 1am.

Police statistics showed that 47,6 percent of the rape cases reported to the police were referred to court after investigation. Of these, 45,6 percent were withdrawn in court and a further 4,5 percent settled out of court.

Of the cases that went to court, only a fifth resulted in a conviction. Dr Jewkes said there was a culture of impunity because of the small number of perpetrators who were arrested.

Pat Mayhew, senior researcher at the British Home Office, said the small proportion of convictions was a universal problem.

The proportion of cases that went to court in South Africa was actually higher than in England and Wales. Susan Pienaar, head of social crime prevention at the SAPS, said knowing the size of the rape problem provided important information on the work that needed to be done. – Sapa

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>