Two stranger rapes reported
Rape categories
Home invasion rapes hit Cambridgeport on two consecutive summers
A map of all stranger rapes over the past five years
Rape Over the
Past 25 Years
1999 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 are excluded.
| Rape down 56%, from
25 in 1998 to 11 in 1999
Two stranger rapes reported Rape categories Home invasion rapes hit Cambridgeport on two consecutive summers A map of all stranger rapes over the past five years
|
Rape Over the
Past 25 Years |
The 11 rapes reported to the Cambridge Police in 1999 is the lowest reported total in at least 35 years and probably a lot longer (crime statistics do not exist prior to 1965). It is so low that it is likely a aberration.
Two of the 11 rapes are stranger rapes, meaning that the victim did not know the attacker. Both are attempts:
· On June 10, 1999, a 33-year-old woman walking through Cambridge Common was attacked by a man who tried to rip her clothes off. Her assailant—a 33-year-old homeless man—was arrested.
· On June 22, 1999, at 4:45 a.m., a 38-year-old Cambridgeport woman awoke to find an intruder in her bedroom. The intruder smothered her face with a pillow and attempted to sexually assault her, but she fought him off. The intruder had entered through an unlocked side window. In early July, Cambridge detectives arrested a suspect in this attempted rape: a 18-year-old man from Franklin Street who had previously been arrested in Cambridgeport for peeping & spying.
The Crime Analysis Unit classifies rape 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 seven of these reported in 1999. They include a boy scout leader who raped several children in the late 1980s (he was convicted of multiple offenses and sentenced to 15 years in prison in November); a father and son who both raped the 11-year-old daughter of an acquaintance; two rapes committed by and against homeless people; one date rape; and two rapes involving other acquaintances.
Blitz Rapes
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. One such rape—an attempt—was reported in 1999: the June 10 Cambridge Common incident reviewed above.
These 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 1999.
Domestic rapes involve rapes between spouses, romantic partners, and family members. There were two such incidents in 1999, both involving the husbands of the victims.
This type of stranger rape occurs when the rapist breaks into the victim’s home to commit his crime. There was one home invasion rape in 1999, the June 22 incident reviewed above. Cambridgeport has been hit during two consecutive summers, in 1998 and 1999, with home invasion rapes.
The Cambridge Police Department’s Sexual Assault Unit reports that all 11 incidents in 1999 have been cleared by arrest.
Stranger Rapes Reported in Cambridge, 1995-1999
Back to the 1999 Annual Report Index
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Last Updated: 03/10/00 11:58:01