{
  "id": "1992-march-rape-series-points-out-serious-flaws-in-system",
  "slug": "1992-march-rape-series-points-out-serious-flaws-in-system",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1992-march-rape-series-points-out-serious-flaws-in-system.html",
  "year": 1992,
  "month": "March",
  "monthNum": 3,
  "headline": "Rape series points out serious flaws in system",
  "kicker": "For discussion:",
  "author_name": "Shey Wessol",
  "author_title": "MICAR",
  "affiliation": "Minneapolis Star-Tribune",
  "summary": "A Minneapolis Star-Tribune investigation found that nearly one-third of rapists who underwent Minnesota's treatment programs were re-arrested within three years, compared to a one-quarter return rate for those who served jail sentences, raising questions about the state's sentencing and treatment procedures for sex offenders.",
  "keywords": [
    "recidivism",
    "treatment",
    "investigation"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Crime & Justice",
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Data & Databases"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "mainframe",
    "9-track tape",
    "floppy disk",
    "Paradox",
    "SAS"
  ],
  "full_text": "The Minnesota Corrections Department believes in helping its convicted rapists and child molesters, but its therapy isn't work- ing. Instead, convicted rapists and child molesters walk away from jail sentences and attack again, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune found in a nine-month computer analysis of recidivism patters of sex criminals. Nearly one-third of all rapists who had undergone treatment pro- grams were re-arrested within three ars - compared to a one-quarter return rate of six years for criminals who served jail terms - the Star- Tribune reported. Star-Tribune reporters Allen Short and Donna Halvorsen, intern Dan Eggen and survey specialist Denise Brownfield began compil- ing the criminal histories of 932 first- degree sex criminals in February 1991. Their findings, published in November, shocked many Minne- sotans, and raised the ire of the treat- ment community by questioning the state's sentencing and treatment procedures. \"What we wanted to do was not only come up with a valid re- search project involving numbers, but we needed to show the human side as well,\" Short said. The two reporters conducted between 125 and 150 interviews with officials, victims and their fami- lies, convicts, therapists and re- searchers, Short explained. The investigative team used an IBM mainframe computer to track the criminal history of each individual for a 10-year period using information from three different state agencies, and the four major Minnesota treatment centers. The entire database, consisting of 10 data files, took up 20 megabytes of space, or 13,000 pages of single- spaced text on standard typewriter paper. The data was not available on nine-track magnetic tape, according to Rob Daves, assistant managing editor for research. \"We try to be as flexible as we can here and use whatever technology is available to support the reporters,\" he said. \"We don't let technology drive the re- porters.\" \"This project combined ele- ments of computer-assisted report- ing, social-science research and good old-fashioned shoe leather reporting,\" Daves said. From the Minnesota Sen- tencing Guidelines Commission the team acquired, on a diskette, the names and charges of 932 sex crimi- nals convicted on first-degree charges during the 1980s. Since Minnesota law requires actual penetration of the victim to warrant first-degree charges, the team knew they were getting criminals con- victed for the most serious attacks. That information was supple- mented with three megabytes of paper data containing the complete criminal histories of the 932 men from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which was keyed into the computer. \"We made a deal with them so that we could get the rap sheets on all of our guys,\" Daves said. All the information from the BCA was used for research pur- poses only, in the statistical analysis and the summary data. Finally, the Star-Tribune team went to the Minnesota Correc- tions Department and asked for in- formation on incarceration to calcu- late when the criminals were on the streets and when they weren't. That data, 400,000 bytes long, was also on paper and entered into the com- puter. \"We had some stumbling blocks along the way,\" Short said. \"In 1988, the Corrections Depart- ment said the tapes weren't there and that a newspaper couldn't do a valid study on sex crimes. We just went around the Corrections De- partment until the very end.\" All of the information was in- serted into Paradox databases, shaped into a flat file and uploaded into the paper's mainframe com- puter, Daves said. All the analysis was done using SAS, a statistical analysis program. Manipulating the data was a challenge, Brownfield said. \"I do mostly survey data here,\" she ex- plained. \"The biggest challenge, for me personally, was the different number of records for each person. It's the first time I've ever done anything like that.\" Short, the lead reporter on the project, began looking into sex crimes in 1988 after a number of rape-murders were reported. Some of the criminals had undergone treatment programs. \"As a reporter, I asked the Corrections Department if they had any information on the outcome of their treatment programs,\" he said. \"They didn't. At the same time, the state was spending millions of dol- lars on treatment.\" The Minnesota Corrections Department spends $6.3 million annually on treatment programs cure many of its first-degree sex offenders. But the agency has never conducted a study to find out if its program works, citing a lack of re- sources, the Star-Tribune reported. As a result of the series, both parties in the Minnesota legislature, as well as the attorney general, have proposed new legislative packages for sex offenders. \"In essence, the study engen- dered a rather heated debate in the treatment community, as it should have,\" Short said. But, he added, after spending 11 months reporting on rape, \"we don't want to write about rapists for a long time.\"",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "pre-v2",
    "extracted_at": "",
    "verified": true
  },
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  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1992-march-rape-series-points-out-serious-flaws-in-system.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1992-march-rape-series-points-out-serious-flaws-in-system.json"
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