A Deficiency in Addressing Campus Sexual Assault: The Lack of Women Law Enforcement Officers

Abstract

The federal government has taken a range of measures to combat the scourge of sexual assault afflicting college campuses across the nation. Whatever the efficacy of these policies, however, they fail to address a major obstacle to curbing sexual violence on campus: the chronically low rate of reporting of this crime to the police. Research has produced data showing that reporting of sexual assault against women increases as female representation among officers increases. Yet, most university campus law enforcement agencies include strikingly few female officers. This Article proposes an increase in women’s representation in campus police agencies to foster more reporting by victims, and argues that schools failing to demonstrate consistent, ongoing, and genuine efforts to hire female officers are contributing to a hostile environment for complainants in Title IX litigation.