Linda Williams, Ph.D., WCW senior research scientist and director of the Justice and Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative, presented with Melissa Morabito, Ph.D., associate professor at University Massachusetts annual report 2018 Lowell (UMass-Lowell), and April Pattavina, Ph.D., WCW senior scholar and professor at UMass-Lowell, “Sexual Assault Case attrition: Key findings from the UML-WCW NIJ-funded Research” at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Annual Meeting. The researchers provided a systemic focus that followed incidents beginning with the first report to police through the prosecution and disposition. The percentage of sexual assault incidents that are reported and that end in arrest continues to be small, varying from 12 to 45 percent across studies, due to both legal and extra-legal factors, including perceived risky behavior and social norms. The ASC Meeting was held in Atlanta, GA, in November.
