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- [RaeAnn] Coming up on Utah Insight, facing a silent epidemic, sexual assault.

- I really feel like if we had some laws to hold people accountable for sexual assault, I feel like those numbers would still be high, but maybe people would think twice about sexually assaulting someone.

- [RaeAnn] We are shedding light on a pervasive issue, often shrouded in silence.

- Rape is above the national average in Utah, and that's people that report rape.

There are a lot of individuals who don't report rape because they don't feel like they'll be believed.

- [RaeAnn] Join us as we delve into the challenges and initiatives aimed to supporting survivors, holding perpetrators accountable and reshaping the conversation around consent and safety in the state.

(soft music) Welcome to Utah Insight, I'm RaeAnn Christensen.

Here in Utah, we are facing a tough situation when it comes to sexual violence.

Rape is the only violent crime where we trend above the national average.

And there's plenty of research to suggest many victims don't report the assaults to police at all.

According to crime statistics compiled by the FBI in the year of 2022, for every 100,000 people in Utah, about 56 rapes were reported.

Compare that to the overall United States, where it's about 43 per 100,000 people and only about 12% of people report the crimes to police.

Joining us in the studio for this important conversation, we have Dr. Susan Madsen, Founding Director with the Utah Women and Leadership Project at Utah State University.

Liliana Olvera-Arbon, Executive Director at UCASA, Utah's Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

And Dr. Julie Valentine, forensic nurse and professor and researcher at the University of Utah College of Nursing.

Thanks so much for being here, and I wanna start with that statistic that we have the higher rate of rape than the national average.

Dr. Madsen, what factors do you think are contributing to this statistic?

- Well, we know different sources say we're actually the ninth worst in this, one says sixth.

So we know we're not even just barely above the national average.

We're quite significantly above the national average.

And there's various factors in that.

I'll just be blunt.

One of them is that in places in states and communities where there's more sexism in general, there tends to be more harassment of women, more violence in different ways.

And we are in a state where we have a religious context and we're quite conservative.

And when you have a power difference, really between men and women, and there's a lot we can talk about there, you tend to see some of these trends.

- Okay.

And Liliana, I've heard you mention, I was watching some videos, the philosophy of the last girl, the one that's valued the least, who suffers the most.

Can you talk about that and the challenges you face here in Utah?

- Absolutely.

At UCASA, we always think about who is that person or that girl who is forgotten about.

Who doesn't have access, whether it could be a language barrier, whether it could be an economic reason, right, why they don't have access to the services that so many of the programs here in Utah offer.

So everything is really developed around that idea of how do we reach out to that last girl?

And we really believe and embody that as an organization and do a lot of work in engaging programs across the state to say, how are we reaching to that most vulnerable person in our community?

And that changes in every community.

And that's the piece that really looks at the holistic respond to what that need of that survivor or victim is.

When we do that, we really see that person as a whole, that every survivor has a different healing journey.

And that is our message to survivors, that we are here for you.

- Okay.

And speaking of vulnerable, we do know that research shows that young women are the most vulnerable to sexual assault.

Dr. Valentine, what factors do you think are contributing to this and what preventive measures could be taken?

- So there's a lot to look at when we think of preventive measures.

We do know that young women between the ages of 17 and about 26 or more vulnerable, but there's other factors that make someone more vulnerable.

Not having a home, we know homelessness is a huge vulnerability for sexual assault.

We've done research on mental illness is a vulnerability for sexual assault.

It's working together with policy and legislation to protect those more vulnerable, which is all of us.

And I wanna thank you for bringing this topic to the attention.

This is something that every Utahan should be concerned about.

It affects all of us.

- Utah's alarmingly low rate of reported sexual assaults has raised concerns among law enforcement and victim advocates.

But even when cases are reported, prosecutors face significant challenges in bringing these crimes to trial, often due to limited resources and the difficulties of proving non-consent in court.

So why are so few reported?

According to UMass Lowell and National Research University, survivors fear retaliation believe police would or could not do anything to help, believed it was a personal matter, believed it was not important enough to report, did not want to get the perpetrator in trouble.

So given one of the big reasons that survivors are not reporting, Dr. Madsen, what can be done?

I know this is a really broad question, but what could be done to encourage survivors to come forward?

- Well, one of the things that we've all been talking about is at the foundation when women and girls, and young women, we're talking about all ages, don't feel they're believed.

That is the key.

I mean, you're not gonna report, you're not sometimes even going to tell someone around you.

And so that really is at the foundation.

We have to shift, you all agree, right?

We need to shift this negative trend in the state of Utah.

And if we just do programs and don't hit the basic foundation of women and girls feeling they will be believed, that people will trust them.

To me, that's the foundation.

That's where we need to start in the state of Utah.

- I wanna tag in on some research on that.

There have been a number of research studies that have been done about false reporting and rape.

They show that it's about two to 8% of false reports in rape.

So it does happen, but that is the same percentage as false reporting in other crimes.

And the idea that there's a lot of false reporting of rape is a number one rape myth.

And we need to dispel that and encourage survivors, victims to come forward, to report.

Otherwise we won't be able to make a dent in decreasing sexual violence in our state.

We need to believe them.

And when you look at more sexism and things that are happening in Utah and beyond, it's interesting, even when I talk to people how you can see in their eyes or whatever, like, is that really true?

Is that really true?

That's our natural reaction.

When in reality our reaction should be caring.

- Absolutely.

Absolutely.

- Liliana, do you think law enforcement organizations need to change to have better outcomes?

- I think there's been a lot of movement around training and educating about trauma and trauma response for law enforcement.

I think we've come a long way in that.

Can we do better?

We can always do better.

We can always ensure that, again, we're meeting the survivor where they're at.

And one thing, you know, as we're talking about this issue, I think it's also really important to name that not every survivor is going to want to report for many of the reasons that you talked about.

And so that work around meeting them where they're at, is saying, what do you want to do?

What can I do to help you in that journey of healing?

And for some it may be reporting to law enforcement, some it may be getting some therapy, getting some support, and that's their healing journey.

And so as a community, we have to ensure that we're providing all of these different avenues of support and healing for a survivor.

- And I wanna be clear that somebody reports a sexual assault or rape, there are certainly criminal justice implications, but I believe the more important implications are the health implications, mental health and physical health.

That rape and sexual violence have significant health consequences.

So we want people to report so we can meet their healthcare needs and their recovery and healing needs, aside from any criminal justice.

- Yes.

- So why are so few prosecuted?

UMass Lowell says, lack of cooperation from victims, fear and trauma of reliving the event.

Victims may feel disrespected by police or prosecutors or the lack of resources to attend repeated interviews needing time off work or childcare, lack of resources for police and prosecutors.

Police and prosecutors often decline cases based on judgments about the victim's credibility.

Police and prosecutors are reluctant to pursue he said/she said cases or consent defense cases without third party witnesses, physical injury or evidence of a weapon.

Liliana, how can we better support victims with issues like fear and trauma and the need for resources?

- One of the really amazing steps forward that Utah has done is they've supported a statewide sexual assault helpline.

And for many, that may be the first time that they're reaching out for some sort of help.

And so I would encourage survivors, if you don't know yet what you need to do or where to go, call the helpline, get that help, connect with the victim advocate.

And the other amazing part is now we have 13 rape crisis centers across the state of Utah that are providing care.

If you are close, you go to that, it shouldn't take more than an hour or less to get to those resources.

Talk to a confidential advocate, find out what services are available and what avenues you're ready to take.

- And Dr. Valentine, your research led to House Bill 200, which mandates the analysis of all sexual assault kits in Utah.

Can you talk about the impact of this law since it took effect in 2017 and has it led to more cases being prosecuted?

- So yes.

House Bill 200, 2017, which was sponsored by Representative Romero, was really ground changing.

And it mandates that all sexual assault kits be submitted.

We were, my research showed we were about 38% of sexual assault kits.

And these were kits from victims who said, I wanna prosecute my case, were actually being submitted.

We're now close to about a hundred percent.

So we've put in a lot of funds and money to test these kits and we have a victim access so that they can track their kit.

Now we need to shift to have more support and resources for the investigation and prosecution.

That has increased somewhat, but we can do better.

- I imagine that's an important piece of the evidence in an investigation.

And I'm sure there was a lot of frustration with those kits not being processed.

- Yes, those were some hard numbers to find across the state.

The forensic nurses who collect these kits, when we learned that only 38% were being submitted and tested, that was tough.

But again, it goes back to we want victims to report to start that healing process.

It's not about the evidence, it's not about the kit.

It's so that we can help them on the pathway to healing.

- And I wanna get back to the rape crisis centers.

A new law enacted earlier this month aims to enhance support for sexual assault survivors in standardized care across rape crisis centers.

Championed by state representative Angela Romero and state Senator Todd Weiler, this bipartisan legislation seeks to tackle Utah's disproportionately high rate of sexual violence.

- Rape is above the national average in Utah, and that's people that report rape.

There are a lot of individuals who don't report rape because they don't feel like they'll be believed.

And what we want to do is provide those resources and services because a victim of sexual assault or sexual violence may not wanna report to law enforcement.

And if they choose not to because of their circumstance, we don't wanna take that power or control away from them.

But we wanna be able to make sure that they get their resources and the services they need to move to heal.

Because when somebody's violated sexually or a victim of violence in general, it doesn't just impact them, it impacts their family and it impacts their entire community.

And you see this trauma carried on through generations - [RaeAnn] House Bill 114 mandates that Utah's nonprofit rape crisis centers adhere to national standards, which will standardize care and increase eligibility for federal funding.

Currently Utah has 13 rape crisis centers.

The new law requires centers to offer comprehensive support, including hotlines and victim advocacy, staffed by trained professionals.

Representative Romero also stresses the importance of public awareness and education.

- We do have an issue and until we really talk about comprehensive sex education in our schools, until we have these honest conversations on our college campuses, and until we hold certain people accountable for violating the rights of an individual, and in most cases these are women, men also are sexually assaulted.

And I don't want to brush past that, but if you look at the numbers and you look at the victims, it's, you know, individuals that are put in vulnerable situations.

So we want to make sure that people had those resources available to them so that they can move forward with their life and that they're not carrying that trauma.

- [RaeAnn] Acknowledges HB 114 won't solve all the issues.

She says we need laws that hold perpetrators accountable.

She plans to reintroduce bills in the future sessions regarding affirmative consent, banning polygraph exams for sexual assault victims, and she wants to renew the missing and murdered indigenous relatives task force.

Liliana, what impact does this bill, is it expected to have for supporting sexual assault survivors?

- It's huge.

We often see that services are not available in our rural communities.

And so standardizing these sexual assault rape crisis centers will ensure that wherever you are, there will be a program that will be able to deliver and provide comprehensive sexual assault services, whether it's counseling, case management, support on a crisis line, hospital accompaniments with forensic nurses.

That has been really a movement that has been going on for the past couple of years to strengthen the accessibility, again, to survivors.

Really thinking about that last girl, right, that last person in our communities, that moved us to the 13 rape crisis centers.

That also impacted our sexual assault nurse examiner program.

We started with 12.

We have over 20 programs now as well in the state of Utah.

So help is available wherever you may be.

We are, as a coalition, continuing to provide that training and education to all of those programs so that they can continue to serve survivors in their communities.

- And can I add one thing?

One thing that we're working on with The Bolder Way Forward is that we need to increase awareness across the state of even parents, of friends, of anyone.

And I think that's, hopefully, a step that we'll get to even as we move forward in terms of even teaching more parents how to react.

We know one in five girls in a CDC study in this state said that in the last 12 months they were sexually assaulted.

But as Dr. Valentine mentioned, that group of college age students, and you're still totally talking to your parents at this time, but we as parents even and as neighbors and as friends, need to understand how to react and the resources that are available.

And right now, I don't think a lot of people understand that.

There's not been a lot of funding towards prevention and so forth.

So I think that's a key thing that we need to work on as well in the state of Utah.

- And I think when we talk about how to react when someone discloses sexual assault, I always talk about three points, what you should say.

You first say you believe you.

You then say, I'm so sorry this happened.

And then what can I do to help?

Even if you aren't sure what to do to help, there are resources if you just hold that person's hand and just be there for them, there are resources that you can both find within this state to help on this journey.

- And I wanna talk about potential legislation coming up in the next session that Representative Romero wants to reintroduce affirmative consent.

Dr. Valentine, can you discuss that importance of affirmative consent?

- Yes.

So we are really interested in a law that Wisconsin has had on the books for over two decades.

And rather than affirmative consent, what this actually does is it builds somewhat of a ladder regarding prosecution.

Right now in our state we have felony one, which is rape.

And to prove felony one rape, they have to show that the individual said or demonstrated no.

We know through science now that many individuals sometimes can't even speak, they're in such a state of shock and trauma at the time.

And below felony one in Utah, we have a misdemeanor, sexual battery.

Well, 40% of those misdemeanors are pleas from felony one.

So what we would like to do is have a felony three, which is sexual contact without consent.

It would allow prosecution of more cases, which would then decrease sexual violence in our state.

- And I'd like to add one more thing.

With the numbers that you mentioned at the beginning, sometimes we don't think that this is every place in the state of Utah.

We don't think it's in families, we don't think it's in every community, and it's older data and we need new data.

But the estimate is really one in six girls or women will be raped or have been raped, one in six.

So I just want the listeners, the viewers, us to understand, wait, if it's one in six, that means it's probably on my street, in my classroom if I'm a teacher, in my congregation.

I just wanna make that point, that we need to think about that.

It's people we are interacting with every day.

Me as a professor, there's gonna be three or four women in my class that have been raped.

- And can I add to that too?

Those numbers one in six, are based on those that report.

- True.

- Right.

And so, and we know that sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes.

So those numbers are pretty big numbers to hear, one in six.

But that's actually probably much higher if we account for those that haven't felt safe enough to come forward.

- And I just wanna say one more thing.

- That's unacceptable.

- Yes, - It is.

And we should all say that is unacceptable.

We want Utah to be a safer and healthier place to raise our children and our grandchildren and to engage with our friends and family.

We all need to be part of this work.

- Utah researchers have collected information on sexual assault cases from the sexual assault forensic examination forms across several Utah counties.

This report includes details on victim-assailant relationships, and their actions.

This information helps address future safety concerns and guides examinations and evidence collection.

Utah State University and the Utah Women and Leadership Project reports about 77% of sexual assault victims knew their assailant with the most common relationship being an acquaintance or friend or date.

More than 18% of survivors reported being raped by someone they did not know.

And I'm sure that is adding to that one in six statistic when it's a family member, when it's a friend, when it's a date.

And it's pretty scary to report something like that, Dr. Madsen.

- Yeah, it really is.

And I think through the years we've just been silent and that is why I get a little emotional.

That is why it continues.

When we have silence and when we're uncomfortable and maybe don't wanna even talk to our family members or whatever, that just means, I mean, the darkness is where bad things happen.

And unless we shine a light, I'm doing a flashlight here.

Unless we shine a light on it, it's not gonna change.

And as Dr. Valentine said, if we really do want to protect our daughters and granddaughters and people around us, and not just protect, but make Utah a place where more girls and women can thrive and their families, we've got to do something.

And not in five years, not in 10 years, we need to do something this year.

- My colleague, Dr. Leslie Miles and I, we're the ones that did that research and are continuing to work on this research.

And I want to talk a little bit more about that most rapes happen from someone they know.

And when we talk about why people don't report, I mean personally I've taken care of many victims, patients who have said, I thought he was my friend.

I thought he was a nice guy.

I just want to everybody to think about that additional trauma and betrayal that these victims feel that this was someone that they thought they could trust, that they thought was their friend.

And that adds to the whole thing of not reporting, generally it's someone they know.

- I also wanna add too to that comment by really recognizing that because we're not talking enough about this, because as parents, as caregivers, whatever role we play, it's so critical that we have these conversations.

In my work of responding to hospitals with victims and working with survivors on crisis lines, it is very normal and often we would hear, "I didn't know that what happened to me was sexual assault."

Right?

This idea that I didn't know I could say no to my partner or to my spouse, but I didn't do that.

Right?

Like all of those discussions really show us that we're not talking about it enough in our homes.

And we really wanna encourage folks to get those resources, reach out to the 13 rape crisis centers, find out how you can get those tools to start having those conversations at home.

Because it starts at home, right?

It does start at home.

I have a 3-year-old and at the very young age of three, we're having conversations at his level about autonomy, about you choose.

If you wanna hold mama's hand, you get to choose that, right?

And it starts to build on that idea of consent, of what that means, what that looks like, so that when something is uncomfortable, he could say to me, "Hey, I didn't like that."

Or, "This happened to me," and we can address it.

- If we're not talking about healthy relationships and healthy sexual relationships, then people aren't going to disclose unhealthy relationships or sexual assault.

And that's a change for you to start talking about that.

- It is.

- But what we know is it's not happening.

And so ideally it would happen in the home with parents and we hope that happens often, but what we know is that in many, I don't know what the percentage is, that is just not happening.

- Yeah.

- We are out of time.

That went so quickly.

So I appreciate you guys having this conversation.

I know it's not an easy one, but It's definitely one that is needed.

If you have been a victim of sexual violence, you can reach out to Utah's 24-Hour Sexual Violence Helpline at 1-888-421-1100.

Additionally, the National Sexual Hotline is Sexual Assault Hotline is available at 1-800-656-4673, offering free and confidential support.

Next time on Utah Insight, water storage at Lake Powell and Lake Mead is managed under guidelines expiring in 2026.

Utahans in the Colorado River Basin are preparing to renegotiate terms considering population growth and rising water demands.

And we wanna hear from you on this topic.

What considerations do you think should be top of mind as our water rights are renegotiated?

You can share your thoughts through social media, email, or give us a call.

Thanks so much for watching Utah Insight, and we will see you back here next week.

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