The Florida Governor’s Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence conducted a study which found that women in Florida are not often believed by hospital staff treating them for rape. The study found that the rape victims have only a fifty percent chance of being believed, even though national statistics show that the false report rate for rape is less than two percent. The study also found that hospitals often don’t follow through on the proper procedure for collecting evidence and that hospitals charge up to a thousand dollars for investigations that truly cost only a few hundred. Robin Hassler, the executive staff coordinator of the study commented, “The fact that rape victims are not believed is common. There is a high prevalence of non-reporting because once they get involved in the system it can be such a horrible experience.”
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