Justice Center in downtown Cleveland

Most rape cases reported in Cleveland never make it to court for prosecution.

(Plain Dealer file)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - In the past two years, only slightly more than a third of rapes reported in the city have resulted in criminal charges.

The low rate of prosecution persists despite efforts to improve how the city handles sex crimes investigations, including an unprecedented push to process untested rape evidence in almost two decades worth of cases.

It raises the question: What remains to be done to make lasting changes that will better protect the community from rapists?

While the total number of prosecuted cases remains low, there has been some progress.

*In 2013, 532 reported rapes resulted in 166 indictments - or approximately 31 percent of cases.

*In 2014, 502 reported rapes resulted in 185 indictments - or approximately 36.8 percent of cases.

The Plain Dealer analyzed public records supplied by the Cleveland police and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office, looking at the number of rape cases reported in 2013 and 2014 that resulted in felony charges after being presented to a grand jury.

The analysis only included recently reported cases, and not indictments related older cases reinvestigated as a result of the sexual assault kit testing initiative.

Previous analysis showed few felony sex crimes prosecuted

At the time, of the most serious felony sex crimes reported during a five-year period from 2004 to 2008, only 27 percent of them were prosecuted.

The investigation found that the cases often stalled when city prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to support charges. The cases were never forwarded county prosecutors who handle rape and felony sex crimes cases.

Most commonly, police officers told city prosecutors that women who reported the crimes - and sometimes went through an hours-long process to collected forensic evidence - could no longer be located.

Other times, the suspect's identity was unknown, victims declined to prosecute or their reports were not found credible.

As a result, the cases were dropped.

More kits being tested, prosecutions only increase slightly

In the past two years Cleveland police have sent more than 700 rape kits for testing. Those kits have resulted in a "hit" or forensic match in DNA databases more than a third of the time, according to statistics provided by the Cuyahoga County Regional Forensics Lab

It is unclear whether that increased testing has led to the slight increase in cases being prosecuted. The city did not respond to specific questions about the low rate of prosecution. The county prosecutor's office only tracks cases that resulted in an indictment, not the total number they receive for review.

County prosecutor wants to review all rape cases

But Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in a recent interview that when a city prosecutor reviews a rape case is still "the crucial point where the ball is most-often fumbled."

McGinty said he has insisted that his office review all felony sex crimes. But negotiations on any agreement with the city to allow that, have dragged on for more than a year, he said.

"I want to know about 100 percent of all the rape reports and find out how many are prosecutable," McGinty said.

"As in the now-infamous (Anthony) Sowell case, the city prosecutor stamps it 'no papers' and the case is dropped and forgotten until the same offender hits again," McGinty said.

How police and dispatchers handled reports against Anthony Sowell, now a convicted of murdering 11 women and raping others, sparked community outrage and has led to some changes.

Unfinished business remains.

The Police Executive Research Forum, which the city paid to study its sex crimes policies, training and staffing levels, recommended in 2013 the county prosecutor's office review all sex crimes cases.

Cleveland Sgt. Ali Pillow said in a recent email said, "We have heard about this proposal. The City law department has discussed this. We have not made any decisions."

The panel recommended that the city appoint a specialized city prosecutor with more experience to advise the unit and review cases.

McGinty said continuing to use city prosecutors only trained to handle misdemeanor - more minor - crimes will lead to errors that allow rapists to continue attacking women.

His office is prepared to have county prosecutors available around the clock to review the cases and work with detectives as the investigations develop, he said.

"Then it becomes our responsibility if we err," he said. "We welcome that responsibility."

Cleveland Deputy Chief Ed Tomba previously told The Plain Dealer the department would not forward cases if a victim decided they did not want to prosecute.

"We have to respect victims' choices," he said last year.

McGinty has also called for the creation of a database that all police departments in Cuyahoga County would use to track suspect descriptions, victim demographics, locations and times of attacks that could help with the hundreds of rapes reported every year where a rape kit wasn't collected or didn't yield DNA.