Sexual Assault by Law Enforcement
Published by: Andrea Ritchie
Through research conducted as a Soros Justice Fellow, Andrea Ritchie determined that 52 percent of 35 police departments surveyed in the U.S. do not have a policy addressing or preventing sexual violence by police officers, despite the issuance of a 2011 guidance on the subject by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Even policies that do exist are limited in scope and application – some consist of a single line noting that on-duty sexual misconduct is prohibited, but fail to define misconduct or the administrative or legal consequences thereof.