Only a small number of violent sex crimes end in conviction, NBC News investigation shows

Behind the doors of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, countless tales of tragedy and trauma are told.

The center is where some survivors of sex abuse go in the aftermath of what is often described as the worse moment of their lives. Staff members are their to listen, and help them decide what to do next.

"The original crime is of power and control, so we really look for how can we empower people and give people some decision-making back," said Karen Dahl, the center's senior director of legal advocacy. "What is so challenging is the criminal legal system is just not set up to be survivor centered, and so the way we try to push back on that is really making sure that we're managing expectations that people understand."

Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.

Dahl said managing expectations means being honest with survivors and telling them a harsh truth: the vast majority of sex abuse survivors will never see their attacker convicted.

"We know that there is a low likelihood that any individual case is going to be prosecuted," Dahl said. "There are people who make decisions on what they want to do based on knowing that. A lot of people might choose not to take that step if they don't think they're going to get the kind of outcomes that they would want."

NBC News reviewed thousands of police and court records from 16 law enforcement agencies across the country and found that overall, less than 4% of reported rapes, sexual assaults, child sex abuse, and other sex crime allegations in certain cities across the united states ever result in a conviction.

Dahl said the sobering statistics can lead to tough conversations.

"We talk to people all the time about weighing the options. Do they want to engage in these legal systems at all? Where are the different spaces that you can get accountability through this process, even if we don't know what that outcome would be?" she said.

In Boston, records obtained by the NBC10 Investigators show that over a 10-year period beginning in 2013 victims reported approximately 11,702 crimes of sexual violence. Six hundred and seven of the overall cases ended in at least one guilty charge, meaning approximately 5.8% of reported crimes of sexual violence in Suffolk County end in a conviction or guilty plea.

"The number is not necessarily surprising," said Beth Keeley, a former Suffolk County prosecutor. "But there's so much more behind how that number is narrowed down to just a little over 5% that people need to understand."

Keeley said sex crimes cases are among the most difficult to bring to bear.

"You're talking about the most difficult part of someone's life and having to bring that into the criminal justice system and put that on full display all along the way. Potentially [testifying] at a grand jury, having to come in and speak at evidentiary hearings, having to be the person to come into court and confront the accused with their testimony in order to convict that person. Those are huge tasks for a survivor to take on. It's tremendous for victims and survivors to have to sustain that over a period of time," she said.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office provided its own data to the NBC10 Investigators related only to sexual assaults.

According to the agency, of the 2,945 cases that went to court during that same 10-year span 670 resulted in convictions, which translates to about a 23% conviction rate. 

Despite obtaining access to the data via open records requests, tracing convictions can be difficult. It relies on information from multiple databases, from police to the courts.

Police departments measure the percentage of people arrested for a particular crime. Law enforcement agencies use different metrics to track crime resolutions. Prosecutors track the number of people presented to them with enough evidence to put a case together.

It’s difficult to get an accurate statistical picture of case resolutions nationwide because agencies vary considerably in their handling of sex crimes cases, including practices around charging, plea bargaining and conviction rates.

In a statement to the Investigators, the DA's office said, "We are constantly proud of the work our sexual assault unit prosecutors, victim witness advocates, and investigators perform for the residents of Suffolk County.  Our conviction rate on sexual assault cases is above the national average even though we never shy away from prosecuting tough cases in front of tough juries.”

Keeley said in her experience prosecutors do not put much stock in conviction rates for sex crimes. She said most strive to be "victim-informed rather than being conviction-led." She believes the latter can lead to mistakes.

"You don't want the conviction rate to be guiding prosecutors on whether or not they should proceed with the case regardless of what the evidence says," Keeley said. "What you're focusing on as a prosecutor is what does justice require here. Which sometimes is [nolle prosequi]  because the evidence is insufficient, or [nolle prosequi] because the survivor is not in any condition to proceed to testimony at trial. Those are decisions that you want a prosecutor to make with integrity."

Keeley said after nearly two decades as a prosecutor she walked away knowing she did the best she could. She said entertainment and a lack of knowledge of the rigors of the criminal justice system can lead to misconceptions about sex crimes cases.

"I think that if you just look at conviction rates, you wouldn't be looking at the whole story. You wouldn't be understanding the complexities that are involved and all of the different factors that go into whether even to bring a case," she said. "Just because a crime is reported doesn't mean that a survivor is in a position to see a case prosecuted."

Despite the difficulty these cases present, Keeley said there is room for improvement.

"I think making the system work better is something that we're all interested in and need to do," she said.

Dahl also said there is much room for improvement, but whatever form it takes, survivors must always be at the center of those efforts.

"We know the prevalence of this, and so there should be greater resources on all sides of this," Dahl said. "I think there's the need to incorporate the voice of survivors and hear what they want through this process."