Black Women, Sexual Assault, and Criminalization
April 2021
This article is from the National Black Women’s Justice Institute
“For every Black woman who reports rape, at least 15 do not report. Many survivors do not report their assault for a variety of reasons, including shame, humiliation, fear of retaliation, racism, historical failure of law enforcement to believe and protect Black women, and fear of unjust harm to Black partners. But Black survivors who do report sexual assault or violence are less likely to be believed than their white counterparts.”