GREELEY, Colo. -- Sexual assault reports have plummeted at a
university once attended by the woman who accused Kobe Bryant of
rape, prompting speculation that the high-profile case has made
victims fearful of coming forward.
Bryant's attorneys have attacked the woman's credibility by
questioning her sexual history and bringing out evidence indicating
she had sex with another man shortly before the alleged attack.
"If I were a victim of sexual assault, and I heard and saw
things going on in the media with Kobe Bryant, it would certainly
make me think twice about reporting it," Northern Colorado Police Chief Wendy
Rich-Goldschmidt said this week. "These cases are tough enough
already and if you throw something high profile on top of it, it
becomes explosive."
Deana Davies, interim coordinator of Northern Colorado's Assault Survivors
Advocacy Program, said the Bryant case can confirm victims' fears
that they may not have community support or that their reputations
will be smeared in public if they report the attacks.
Nationally, well-publicized sexual assault cases like those
involving the Roman Catholic Church are credited with raising the
average reporting rate from the 30 percent range in the 1990s to 52
percent in 2002, the most recent federal figures available, said
Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National
Network.
Allegations in those cases were taken seriously and the victims'
reputations were not smeared, she noted.
The Eagle woman who accused Bryant of rape attended Northern Colorado earlier
this year but did not return for the fall term.
In addition to the graphic details revealed during Bryant's
preliminary hearing, two men have been charged with threatening to
kill the woman. There also have been news reports quoting her
friends who say she attempted to commit suicide twice this year.
An Eagle County judge hopes to decide by Monday whether Bryant
should stand trial. Bryant, 25, is accused of raping the woman June
30 at an Edwards resort where she worked. The Los Angeles Lakers
guard has said the sex was consensual and remains free on a $25,000
bond.
At Northern Colorado, 12 women reported being sexually assaulted through
mid-October in each of the past two years, according to Northern Colorado's
program.
Three anonymous reports were made in the same time period this
year by women who said they were attacked but did not want to offer
details or seek help.
Campus police have not received any sexual assault reports this
term but received four during the spring semester.
The fall is usually the busiest time for date rape cases at Northern Colorado
as freshmen away from home for the first time meet people at large
parties in off-campus houses, ASAP graduate assistant Kimberly
Chambers said.
Anpeytu Raben, director of Sexual Assault Survivors, Inc., said
sexual assault reports have dropped by about one-third in Greeley
and the surrounding area.
In nearby Fort Collins, the number of reports was unchanged but
there was an increase in the number of calls from people who said
they have been assaulted in the past, said Nancy Meginness,
director of the Sexual Assault Victim Advocate team.
She said she received up to four such calls on some days during
the late summer and early fall compared with an average of three to
five a month. No one has mentioned the Bryant case, but she
suspects it could have prompted some calls.
"I think anytime you get something where there's so much
coverage, it's going to be affecting a lot of people with
long-range issues," Meginness said.
Reporting remains unchanged at crisis centers in other Colorado
cities, and the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault has not
heard of other decreases.
"I'd hope it would be that it's not happening as much but I
don't think that's the case," said Jordan Reck, 20, a Northern Colorado junior
and ASAP volunteer.
Counselors emphasize that they don't push victims to report
assaults to police, but offer assistance such as taking them to the
hospital and helping them cope.
ASAP counselors emphasize that what victims tell them will
remain confidential. Next week, they will begin distributing
brochures with a new slogan: "Can you keep a secret? We can."