A year after formation, Rape Task Force has ‘made significant progress’

A year ago, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan created a task force to improve the investigation and prosecution of sexual assaults, saying there was “systemic structural breakdown” in the way the crime was handled.

Since then, the Sexual Assault Work Group has backed legislation that prohibits victims from being billed for medical forensic examination where evidence of a sexual assault is collected, instituted victim-centered training in sexual assault cases in police academies, conducted training for prosecutors in Cook County and the metro-east and increased funding to $6 million for the testing of sexual assault kits.

“Our working group started with an honest and comprehensive look at how the criminal justice system handles sexual assault cases. We have made significant progress, including legislation to implement statewide protocols and best practices for sexual assault cases. It is among the many steps we are committed to taking to build a better and more responsive criminal justice system to encourage survivors to come forward and ensure that justice is being served,” Madigan said.

The task force was created after the Belleville News-Democrat published a four-day series called “Violation of Trust” that reported 70 percent of rape cases reported to police in southern Illinois don’t make it to court. The article compared the number of criminal sexual assault and abuse cases reported to police with the number of cases filed by prosecutors in the 32 counties in southernmost Illinois from 2005 to 2013.

There are not yet figures available to determine if the working group has increased prosecutions of rape cases, according to Madigan’s office.

The task force is headed by Madigan, Cook County States’ Attorney Anita Alvarez, St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly and ICASA Executive Director Polly Poskin.

After the task force’s formation, Kelly changed protocols in sex crimes, got a grant to create the special victims unit and brought national experts in to train prosecutors from around the state.

“We have spent hundreds of man hours into reforming the system and introducing and ensuring that the best practices for victims of sexual assault will be the law in Illinois,” Kelly said.

Sean Black, Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s communications coordinator, said the budget crisis is hurting sex assault victims by withholding state funds that keep the doors to rape crisis centers around the state open and services available for victims.

The rape crisis center in Decatur cut its staff by 40 percent, Black said. They no longer provide any prevention services. Black said eventually the budget crisis will lead to fewer rape kits being tested, fewer services for victims and fewer resources for prosecutors.

“It has so many ripple effects,” Black said. “If the budget isn’t fixed, this process won’t work.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 10:10 AM.