Federal funding for the state's first victimization survey will help victim advocates find out just how underreported sexual assault, domestic violence and other crimes are in West Virginia.
Sexual assault and domestic violence are historically underreported everywhere, but victim advocates don't know exactly how underreported the crimes are in West Virginia, where they say isolation could be exacerbating the problem.
The state Division of Justice and Community Services announced Monday it had received a $448,000 grant from the U.S. Justice Department to fund a three-year study.
Researchers will ask West Virginians about whether they've been victimized, their willingness to ask law enforcement for help, their perceptions of the criminal justice system and community safety, and their knowledge of victim services and local crime policy, among other topics.
Victim advocates representing the state's domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions said they were looking forward to state-specific information on victimization, which is currently lacking.
Nancy Hoffman, state coordinator for the West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services, said that they could use the data to modify services.
"When we first started doing this work years ago, a lot of our prevention work was focused on stranger danger," Hoffman said. "That's (when) the rapist or perpetrator is someone lurking in the bushes and assaults occurred at dark and it wasn't anyone you know. With data over the years, we found that most sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knows - something like 75 to 85 percent - and many occur during the day ... so through data, we really learned how to direct and focus primary prevention efforts."
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that nearly two-thirds (63.7 percent) of women did not report rape, stalking or physical violence by an intimate partner. (The question was specifically asking about violence committed by intimate partners, not others, such as friends or strangers.) An even lower rate of men - 12.6 percent - reported the same crimes to police.
Victim advocates listed several characteristics of West Virginia that could make the state particularly vulnerable to underreporting.
Hoffman said that, while residents of all counties in the state can call a sexual assault hotline and be referred to a rape crisis center, numerous counties lack a physical center and the advocacy services that come with it.
"We just have limited dollars," Hoffman said. "That is the reality."
Joyce Yedlosky, team coordinator for the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the coalition covers all counties in the state, but said lack of public transportation can be a problem.
"People who are out in the most rural areas may have difficulty getting the services and help they might need," Yedlosky said.
Hoffman and Yedlosky both mentioned a lack of anonymity when reporting crime in rural areas.
Yedlosky said reporting being victimized could be especially "humiliating" in a small town.
"You might know or be related to many of the people who might respond," she said.
When perpetrators and authorities know each other well, that also could create bias, she said.
She said an officer might think something like: "Joe wouldn't do that. I know him."
"You might think the person isn't capable," she said.
Yedlosky said the rural attitude of "we make do" and "we take care of it ourselves" could also contribute to underreporting.
She said the attitude is: "You don't go to the police. You don't go to a shelter. You take care of it. You made your bed, you lie in it."
The Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center within the Office of Research and Strategic Planning at the Division of Justice and Community Services will conduct the survey, with help from West Virginia University's Research Center on Violence.
"This is an exciting opportunity to pursue research that promises to improve public safety in West Virginia," division Director Rick Staton said in a news release.
Dr. Stephen Haas, director of the Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center, said the survey would target all adults 18 and older statewide.
"Safeguards will be utilized to ensure confidentiality and that the respondents feel safe to talk," he said in a statement.
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck @wvgazette.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.