NBC 5 Investigates spent six months reviewing police records and examining court documents to find out how often allegations involving sex are never charged, never tried or simply disappear.
We looked at every sex-related arrest by Chicago police from 2018 to 2023 then cross-referenced each with records in Cook County criminal court. Our team read through every narrative in every court case – hundreds of accounts of sex assaults, rapes, incest and other sex-related crimes.
In all, NBC 5 Investigates examined more than 21,000 reported sex crimes over six years and found a small fraction led to an arrest.
Of the few offenders who were convicted, nearly half walked out of court with no prison time or pled down to a charge that did not require them to register as a sex offender.
BY THE NUMBERS
Dismissed: Behind the NBC 5/Telemundo Chicago investigation
Over the course of a wide variety of stories reported by the NBC Chicago and Telemundo Chicago investigative teams over recent years, our reporters and producers noticed a recurring theme: Case after case of alleged sexual assault or abuse that never resulted in an arrest, was dismissed in court or was pled down in court to a non-sex conviction, such as battery or disorderly conduct, that bore no indication that someone was initially charged with a sex crime. Read the complete story here.
Part 1: Thousands of sexual assault cases die each year inside Chicago’s justice system
Thousands of sexual assault cases never saw an arrest, never made it to court or were dismissed once they got there, a six-month investigation of sex crimes reported to police revealed. Read the full story here.
Part 2: Racial disparities and the difficulty of prosecuting sexual assault cases
In the second installment of "Dismissed," NBC 5 Investigates explored a racial disparity among victims and why a question of credibility can undermine so many cases. Read the full story here.
Part 3: How Chicago's sex crime conviction rate compares to other cities
Our investigation found a very low rate of sex crime convictions in Chicago, but what about other major U.S. cities? Read our complete findings here.
RESOURCES FOR SURVIVORS, PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE & MORE
NBC 5 Investigates has compiled an extensive list of resource for survivors in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, along with information on ways you can advocate for change and links to previous investigations regarding sex crimes on college campuses and local coaches accused of abusing their players and students. The page can be found here.
TALK TO US
If you are the survivor of a sexual assault or sexual violence and want to tell your story or comment on our NBC 5 Investigates / Telemundo Chicago Investiga series, “Dismissed,” please contact us. You can leave a message on the NBC 5 Investigates tip line at 312-836-1441, or you can send our investigative team an email at this link.
A BREAKDOWN
CONTINUED COVERAGE
Illinois budget includes $20M aimed at repairing cuts to sexual assault crisis services
When state lawmakers in Springfield approved a spending plan in the wee hours of the morning this week, it included a $20 million injection of funds meant to shore up federal cuts that led to layoffs and forced rape crisis centers across Illinois to close. The news of the state funding approval comes less than a week after NBC 5 Investigates’ series "Dismissed" exposed how reported sexual assaults in Chicago rarely led to an arrest and conviction. Read more here.
How do scores of Chicagoans arrested for sex crimes stay off the sex offender registry once convicted?
NBC 5 Investigates has found nearly one hundred “ghost offenders” – people arrested for sex crimes and ordered by Cook County judges to undergo sex offender therapy, while at the same time they plead down to lesser convictions which keep them off the Illinois Sex Offender Registry. Read more here.
88 Illinois hospitals failed to properly treat victims of sexual assault, NBC 5 Investigates found
An Illinois law known as the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act – or SASETA – was designed to ensure victims of rape and sexual assault get proper care. The law requires that hospitals offer forensic services including rape kits, and that they contact police, collect forensic photographs with the patients’ consent and provide them with things like access to a shower, calling a friend or a rape crisis counselor, among other services.
But our review of six years’ worth of hospital inspection records from the IDPH found time and again that did not happen.
Read more here.
Illinois law requires hospitals treat sexual assault victims – but allows them to opt out
The Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act – or SASETA – which was created to ensure victims of sexual assault receive proper care inside hospitals – also includes a carve out that allows patients to be transferred if the hospital determines it can't provide services like rape kit exams.
Advocates argue this can disrupt the chain of custody for things like evidence collection and creates a chilling effect where victims may decide to not travel further to get a rape exam. Find the complete story here.
EXTENDED INTERVIEWS
Additional contributions
Photography and editing: DS Shin / NBC Chicago
Design and development: Alex Ford, Annetta Stogniew & Nelson Hsu / NBC
