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Abstract: 

The Women’s Law Project is spearheading an effort to change the definition of rape used by the FBI in its Uniform Crime Report (UCR) System to more accurately reflect societal and legal definitions of serious sexual assault. In a July 2001 letter-memorandum to the Acting Director of the FBI signed by 80 sexual assault advocacy organizations, the Law Project outlined the deleterious impact of the UCR’s definition of rape on public knowledge about serious sex crimes and on the reporting and handling of sexual assault complaints, and argued that the UCR’s definition of rape should be updated immediately. This article discusses the definition, what parts of the crime it does no take into account, the effects that this misunderstanding has on response to sex crimes, and why it must be changed.

Keywords: Uniform Crime Report (UCR); The Women’s Law Project; Philadelphia Police Department; National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS);

Affiliations:  1: Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia; 2: Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia; 3: Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia.