Letter: Rape victim ID would quash reports

As providers of rape crisis services, we are alarmed by the Newsday editorial suggesting the retirement of the "long-standing media taboo" of not naming the victims of rape ["ID most accusers in rape cases," July 26].

Unfortunately, "that horrible era" of victim blaming is not past. What has changed in society that would make a rape survivor feel OK about publishing her or his identity? We agree that there should be no shame attached to being a victim, but consider the reality of the women who come to our agencies for crisis services.

Consider the 21-year-old college student raped by another student. She decided to seek justice through the student court, a fixture at many colleges and universities. She was no longer anonymous.

At the court of her peers she was treated as though she were the perpetrator. One or two of her fellow students snickered as they passed around forensic evidence on her clothing. She was questioned with hostility; the perpetrator, who was a popular athlete, was treated with deference. This young woman trusted the system and her peers. The result was ostracizing and humiliating, leading to her dropping out of school.

In another case, a health-care clinician who sought rape crisis counseling made the decision not to report the attack to the police. She was afraid that if her colleagues or patients learned what had happened to her, they would question her competence. Many of our clients are afraid to tell colleagues or family members; younger victims are afraid their parents will blame them.

According to The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 40 percent of rape and sexual assaults are reported. Victims would be even more reluctant to report rape if they thought their names would be in the newspaper, on TV and on the web.

We suggest that in the viral media milieu that currently exists, this is a more dangerous time than ever for the identity of rape victims to be made public.

Pamela Johnston, Huntington

Sandy Oliva, Northport

Editor's note: Johnston is the executive director of Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk, and Oliva is the executive director of the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence.