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SEXUAL ASSAULT: AMERICA'S RECORD

¦ According to FBI statistics, police in many cities drop a high proportion of rape cases on the grounds that they are "unfounded". Pittsburgh shelves 34% of cases in this way; San Bernardino, 34%; Atlanta, 24%; Jersey City, 18%; and Dallas, 13%. The national average is 6%.

¦ New Orleans police are under federal review for shelving 50% of sex attack cases as "non-criminal complaints".

¦ Some cities are ploughing through backlogs of untested forensic medical evidence (rape kits) found in 2009. Houston had 6,600; Detroit, Los Angeles and San Antonio more than 11,000 each.

¦ In Cleveland, Ohio, police were shamed last year by serial rapist and murderer Anthony Sowell, who killed 11 women, six of them after a rape kit had been disregarded.

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