1998 Annual Report

Rape

Forcible rape, as defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force, and assaults with the intent to commit rape, are also included. However, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses, such as indecent assault, are excluded.

The Cambridge Police Department's Sexual Assault Unit reports that 25 rapes and attempted rapes were reported in Cambridge in 1998. This represents a one incident (4%) increase from 1997. 1997's rape total was the lowest reported in Cambridge in over 25 years; 1998's ties with 1989's for the second-lowest.

There was only one stranger rape committed in 1998^*; the other 24 were committed by family members, acquaintances, romantic partners, or other acquaintances. This represents a 89% decrease in stranger rapes from 1997, but a 60% increase in non-stranger rapes.

The one stranger rape, which occurred on August 22 at 04:30, was a home invasion-a rare but chilling occurrence in Cambridge. In this incident, a man entered a Cambridgeport woman's apartment through an unlocked window, while she was sleeping , and sexually assaulted her. Just over a month later, on Erie street, a burglary was reported that had similar characteristics to the home invasion, but no sexual assault occurred. The August 22 rape is still under investigation-it remains one of two uncleared rapes for 1998.

The Crime Analysis Unit classifies rapes into five different categories:

Acquaintance Rapes are non-domestic rapes committed by someone that the victim knows. They include rapes of co-workers, schoolmates, friends, and other acquaintances, including "date rapes." There were 15 of these in 1998. Among them were two reports that identified the same rapist: a 39-year-old man from Garden Street, who met runaway girls in Harvard Square, befriended them, invited them to his home, drugged them, and raped them. He was arrested by the Sexual Assault Unit in late 1998. Five of the other 13 acquaintance rapes were committed by and against homeless acquaintances.

Blitz Rapes are stranger rapes in which the rapist rapidly and brutally assaults his victim with no prior contact. He "comes out of nowhere" or "blitzes" the victim. They usually occur at night in a public place. There were no rapes of this categorization in 1998; in 1997, there were six, with four clustered around Central Square between 00:00 and 04:00.

Contact Rapes are a type of stranger rape in which the suspect contacts the victim and tries to gain her confidence before assaulting her. Contact rapists pick up their victims in bars, lure them into their cars or houses, or otherwise try to coerce the victim into a rape situation. There were no such rapes in 1998.

Domestic Rapes involve rapes between spouses, romantic partners, and family members. There were eight domestic rapes in 1998.

Home Invasion Rapes occur when the rapist (a stranger) breaks into the victim's home to commit his crime. There was one home invasion rape in 1998-the only stranger rape this year.

Rape around the Region & Nation

In 1997*, cities between 90,000 and 105,000 reported an average of 37 rapes per 100,000 residents. Cambridge reported 25 per 100,000 residents, far below the national average. The highest reporting cities in this population range were Midland, TX, Youngstown, OH, and Lafayette, LA, each with 79 rapes per 100,000 people; the city with the lowest rate was Cheektowaga Town, NY, with 7.

The FBI reported a 0.1 percent decrease in reported rapes (and a 1.1 decrease in rapes per 100,000 persons) across the nation between 1996 and 1997. Nationally, the crime has gone down 12.7 percent since 1993. Like the Cambridge Police Department, the FBI cautions that a significant portion of rapes go unrecorded, making the validity of the statistics uncertain.

In Massachusetts, cities with populations between 50,000 and 150,000 reported an average of 27 rapes per 100,000 residents, just slightly above Cambridge's rate. These cities include New Bedford (61 per 100,000), Brockton (49), Lynn (49), Lowell (44), Quincy (26), Fall River (21), and Newton (0). Cities and towns surrounding Cambridge (excluding Boston) reported a combined total of 17 rapes.

*National and Regional Statistics for 1998 are not yet available

Characteristics of Rape in Cambridge

The relative infrequency of rapes in Cambridge discourages geographic analysis. However, in past years, we have seen clusters of blitz rapes around Central Square between midnight and 4:00 a.m. There was no such cluster this year-in fact, there were no blitz rapes at all. One cluster that did appear this year was homeless acquaintance rapes, centered in the eastern part of the Cambridgeport neighborhood.

Rape patterns or series-in which a single offender commits multiple rapes-are even more infrequent. This year, we witnessed the emergence of a kind of series when the same Garden Street resident lured homeless runaway females to his residence and raped them. (The Cambridge Police Department received two reports for this "series"; the suspect was arrested.) Nothing in the way of a stranger rape series has been reported in Cambridge since the "Rainy Day Rapist" struck the Fresh Pond area in the early 1980s.

Analysis shows that stranger rapes-"blitz" rapes, home invasion rapes, and contact rapes-are most likely in the months of August and September. They are usually reported at night (between 8:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m.) during weekends.

Because victims of rape almost always experience psychological trauma, and because many (especially in the case of acquaintance and domestic rapes) experience feelings of embarassment, a significant number of rapes probably go unreported. We suspect that this is more of a problem with domestic and acquaintance rapes than with stranger rapes. Underreporting estimates range from as low as 10% to as high as 60%.

Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.)

R.A.D. is program of realistic, self-defense tactics and techniques that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction, and avoidance before progressing on to the basics of hands-on defense training.

Courses are free.

Each course is taught by a certified R.A.D. instructor.

Courses are 16 hours, usually in four blocks of four hours each.

Courses consist of both classwork and physical activity.

The Cambridge Police Department offers about a dozen R.A.D. classes each year. To sign up, or for more information, call 617-349-6009, or visit the Community Relations Section at 5 Western Avenue, Cambridge, second floor.

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