Between 2018 and 2020, court records in Chicago showed 1,039 alleged victims of sexual violence, with 303 cases involving suspects with previous sex convictions or multiple accusers. Reporters found 436 additional alleged victims of these defendants. Suspects of different races were prosecuted at similar rates, but the race of the victim correlated with different outcomes. In California, a plea bargain prohibition law for sex crimes did not lead to an increase in convictions, with Los Angeles having the lowest conviction rate. In San Francisco, 74 out of 1,442 reported sex crimes resulted in conviction, and in San Diego County, 386 out of 4,987 complaints led to convictions, with a third not resulting in sex offender registry placement. In California’s San Mateo County, 1 in 4 defendants charged with sex offenses negotiated plea deals without sex crime convictions. One victim filed a lawsuit against the district attorney’s office for failure to protect her rights. The investigation used data from 16 agencies and courts from 2013 to 2023 in cities like Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The focus was on the conviction rates for violent sex crimes, excluding certain offenses like possession of child sexual abuse material. The analysis aimed to track the outcomes of the most severe sex crimes reported to city law enforcement agencies.
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