Artika Roller, executive director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Photo courtesy of MCASA.

The beginning of the pandemic was met with fear that as vulnerable people were stuck at home with abusers, rates of sexual assault would rise. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN, says that 80% of sexual assaults  are committed by someone known to the victim. 

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence reported that in May 2020, as shelter-in-place orders were implemented, close to  40% of the rape crisis centers  surveyed had seen increased demand for services since the COVID-19 outbreak.  The previous month, RAINN reported that for the first time, minors made up half of the calls  to the National Sexual Assault Hotline for the first time. More than half identified perpetrators as a family member, and 79% said they were living with that perpetrator .  

“Unfortunately for many, and especially for children experiencing sexual abuse, ‘stay at home’ doesn’t mean ‘safe at home,’” RAINN’s President Scott Berkowitz said at the time.  

Stay-at-home orders were lifted in most of the country, however, and the worst fears may not have borne out. According to the national crime victimization survey from the U.S. Department of Justice, the rate of people reporting rape or sexual assault remained largely unchanged from 2019 to 2020, the first pandemic year. 

The Reformer spoke to Artika Roller, executive director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA), on the continued need to find solutions to a chronic, ongoing issue

There has been progress. We’ve been more successful getting policy and protocol in legislation to make sure victims and survivors have sexual assault kits tested. Kits were being stored without being tested. A legislated practice has moved forward in recent years to make sure evidence is processed and analyzed. We need to collect more data, however, so we can identify which communities are more likely to have test kits that haven’t been tested. So we need do outreach in those communities with backlogs.

Demographics aren’t available. However, data supports that communities of color are impacted at a significantly high rate. We know it’s happening here and nationwide. We just don’t have the demographics in Minnesota.  

There are communities where people don’t trust the system for a positive outcome.  There’s also shame associated with [being a victim of rape], including blaming the victim. There are multiple reasons they don’t come forward.   

Yes, there is a lack of resources for men and boys, and the stigma associated with rape makes it difficult for people to report the crime and reach out for help. The Sexual Violence Center located in Minneapolis has a men’s support group, and we are trying to bring more attention to this area of need.

There is also a lack of resources for the LGBTQIA community, transgender persons and culturally specific services.

I would say that’s not uncommon. It’s complicated, because it’s also about how exposed [one] wants to be in moving forward, to heal or to process what happened to them.

I would agree.  There might be consequences in some communities for reaching out.  It’s not as easy as, “Why didn’t you just tell?”

We have multiple resources for advocates to support survivors. We have to put state resources behind the work we are doing.   It is up to our legislators to move forward in making sure we have increased funding. That includes mental health, restorative justice practice issues and court advocacy. Where they are lacking is LGBTIQA. We could definitely have additional resources in that area, and for male survivors as well. 

I would also say we need more culturally specific programming. All of this requires that we put state resources behind the work we are doing.

Yes. We need everyone to step up and show up. We need everybody to come to the table in collaborative ways.  There has to be a real commitment to that. L aw enforcement repeatedly says they are not social service providers. But we are not putting resources behind the organizations that provide social services, the organizations that are willing to step up and perform that role. 

The current criminal justice system doesn’t capture what victims and survivors need regarding accountability of people who do harm and commit sexual violence. So, we have to rethink what we’re doing as a system. It should encompass a variety of ways to re-examine our approach to this as a community in order to have a successful solution. Police involvement is part of that solution. Restorative justice is also. 

Right now, a priority for us is a legislative plan to increase funding for victim services, and we’ve tried to move forward on it for the past seven years. 

by Dwight Hobbes, Minnesota Reformer July 22, 2022

by Dwight Hobbes, Minnesota Reformer July 22, 2022

The beginning of the pandemic was met with fear that as vulnerable people were stuck at home with abusers, rates of sexual assault would rise. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN, says that 80% of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim. 

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence reported that in May 2020, as shelter-in-place orders were implemented, close to 40% of the rape crisis centers surveyed had seen increased demand for services since the COVID-19 outbreak.  The previous month, RAINN reported that for the first time, minors made up half of the calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline for the first time. More than half identified perpetrators as a family member, and 79% said they were living with that perpetrator.  

“Unfortunately for many, and especially for children experiencing sexual abuse, ‘stay at home’ doesn’t mean ‘safe at home,’” RAINN’s President Scott Berkowitz said at the time.  

Stay-at-home orders were lifted in most of the country, however, and the worst fears may not have borne out. According to the national crime victimization survey from the U.S. Department of Justice, the rate of people reporting rape or sexual assault remained largely unchanged from 2019 to 2020, the first pandemic year. 

The Reformer spoke to Artika Roller, executive director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA), on the continued need to find solutions to a chronic, ongoing issue

There has been progress. We’ve been more successful getting policy and protocol in legislation to make sure victims and survivors have sexual assault kits tested. Kits were being stored without being tested. A legislated practice has moved forward in recent years to make sure evidence is processed and analyzed. We need to collect more data, however, so we can identify which communities are more likely to have test kits that haven’t been tested. So we need do outreach in those communities with backlogs.

Demographics aren’t available. However, data supports that communities of color are impacted at a significantly high rate. We know it’s happening here and nationwide. We just don’t have the demographics in Minnesota.  

There are communities where people don’t trust the system for a positive outcome.  There’s also shame associated with [being a victim of rape], including blaming the victim. There are multiple reasons they don’t come forward.   

Yes, there is a lack of resources for men and boys, and the stigma associated with rape makes it difficult for people to report the crime and reach out for help. The Sexual Violence Center located in Minneapolis has a men’s support group, and we are trying to bring more attention to this area of need.

There is also a lack of resources for the LGBTQIA community, transgender persons and culturally specific services.

I would say that’s not uncommon. It’s complicated, because it’s also about how exposed [one] wants to be in moving forward, to heal or to process what happened to them.

I would agree.  There might be consequences in some communities for reaching out.  It’s not as easy as, “Why didn’t you just tell?”

We have multiple resources for advocates to support survivors. We have to put state resources behind the work we are doing.  It is up to our legislators to move forward in making sure we have increased funding. That includes mental health, restorative justice practice issues and court advocacy. Where they are lacking is LGBTIQA. We could definitely have additional resources in that area, and for male survivors as well. 

I would also say we need more culturally specific programming. All of this requires that we put state resources behind the work we are doing.

Yes. We need everyone to step up and show up. We need everybody to come to the table in collaborative ways.  There has to be a real commitment to that. Law enforcement repeatedly says they are not social service providers. But we are not putting resources behind the organizations that provide social services, the organizations that are willing to step up and perform that role. 

The current criminal justice system doesn’t capture what victims and survivors need regarding accountability of people who do harm and commit sexual violence. So, we have to rethink what we’re doing as a system. It should encompass a variety of ways to re-examine our approach to this as a community in order to have a successful solution. Police involvement is part of that solution. Restorative justice is also. 

Right now, a priority for us is a legislative plan to increase funding for victim services, and we’ve tried to move forward on it for the past seven years. 

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com. Follow Minnesota Reformer on Facebook and Twitter.

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Dwight Hobbes is a longtime Twin Cities journalist and essayist.

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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.