In the debate over whether non-theists should be allowed to testify in PCA courts, one of the most common objections is that the change is unnecessary because police reports can be admitted into evidence.
This response reveals both an unfamiliarity with the DASA Report and a lack of experience in real life situations of investigating and adjudicating abuse in the courts of the church.
In this essay I will give six reasons why we cannot solely depend on police reports to provide the church with evidence in our judicial proceedings and thus why we should be willing to admit the testimony of any relevant and competent person.
I will be citing statistics detailed in the DASA report. As a person with a scientific background and a PhD in the humanities that demanded rigorous documentation of all my claims and sources, I personally tracked down the source of every statistic and searched for many others that further demonstrated the claims we were making in that report. The DASA report provides documentation and links, most of which cite peer reviewed academic journals or the studies of government agencies. If there was a claim that I could not find a solid source for, it was not included in the DASA report.
1. The vast majority of assaults go unreported to police.
The DASA report points out that only 310 out of every 1,000 (that’s 31%) of sexual assaults are ever reported to police.[1] According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, only 37% of rapes are ever reported to police.[2] The same fact sheet states that only 12% of child sexual assaults are reported to police.[3]
This means that somewhere between 63% and 69% of sexual assaults do not have police reports. 88% of child sexual assaults do not have police reports. For the vast majority of sexual assaults, police reports simply do not exist. We cannot depend solely on the existence of police reports in the investigation and adjudication of abuse claims in the church courts.
Somewhere between 63% and 69% of sexual assaults do not have police reports. 88% of child sexual assaults do not have police reports. For the vast majority of sexual assaults, police reports simply do not exist.
2. Police reports are difficult to obtain.
In my practical experience the police are not enthusiastic to support a church investigation or judicial proceeding. Even when a police report exists, it may be difficult or impossible to obtain. In order to obtain a police report a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request will likely have to be made, even for the reporting victim to obtain the report. I am highly skeptical of the willingness of police officers or district attorneys to hand over evidence or serve as witnesses in a church judicial proceeding. This is especially so in areas of our country that have a higher non-Christian population who are becoming more and more suspicious of the church.
3. Assaults reported to police rarely end in conviction or go to trial.
As detailed in the DASA Report, assaults reported to the police rarely result in any meaningful justice for the victim, “Statistically, 50 out of 310 sexual assaults reported to law enforcement result in criminal charges. Approximately 25 will result in conviction and jail time. One study concluded that only ‘1.6% of all complaints ended in a trial.’ Of the many studies, it is clear that statistically a sexual assault case is not likely to make it to trial.”[4]
To state this more plainly: only 5% of sexual assaults will ever result in criminal charges. Only 2.5% will ever result in a criminal conviction. Because many of these are plea deals, only 1.6% of sexual assaults ever make it to trial.
Combine this with the fact that false reports of sexual assault fall in the range of 2%-8% and you have an enormous miscarriage of justice in our country.[5] If the offender is a church member, or especially a church leader, it is incumbent on the courts of the church to be able to hold the offender accountable and to protect victims even when the secular authorities do not.
Only 5% of sexual assaults will ever result in criminal charges. Only 2.5% will ever result in a criminal conviction. Because many of these are plea deals, only 1.6% of sexual assaults ever make it to trial.
4. Police reports have not been adjudicated by judge or jury.
The information in a police report is the opinion of one or several arresting officers. While the witness claims made within it are usually made with under the penalty of perjury, the veracity of the police report has not been adjudicated by a judge or jury. As pointed out above, only 1.6% of sexual assaults ever make it to trial. Only 8% of police reports result in criminal convictions, meaning that a judge or jury has substantiated the report or that the defendant has pleaded guilty.[6] That means that 92% of police reports lack any external verification beyond the opinion of the arresting officer and the threat of perjury.
The point is this, police reports do not give any official determination of the veracity of the claim. If I were the defense representative in a church court proceeding I would vigorously point out the weakness of such evidence.
5. Police reports cannot be cross examined.
Building on point six, even if a police report exists, how will the defense be able cross examine such a report? BCO chapter 35 on evidence does not envision a piece of paper alone serving as evidence to an offense. That chapter is entirely predicated on witnesses, meaning people. BCO 35-7 gives the right of the defense to cross examine a witness. How will the defense cross examine a police report? If the report is entered into evidence via another witness- a member of the church investigative committee, for example- how will that cross examination proceed? It could only proceed along the lines of how he obtained the report and so on. Again, if I were the defense representative in such a proceeding, I would vigorously protest that I do not get to cross examine the police officer who made the report!
Further, what if the police officer that made the report is a non-theist? How will I know if I cannot cross-examine him? Doesn’t that get us back in the same situation we started in? It would be better just to be able to call any competent witness and allow the court to judge his or her credibility as BCO 35-5 states.
6. Church courts prosecute offenses that the secular authorities do not prosecute.
The last reason I will present for not solely depending on police reports is this: secular authorities do not prosecute all the matters that the church court is called to prosecute. Because of our moral teachings, laid out in the exposition of the Ten Commandments in the Larger Catechism, there are a whole host of offenses that are not considered criminal in the legal codes of most civil jurisdictions. For example, the secular authorities would not currently prosecute someone for adultery or possession of pornography because these offenses are not currently crimes. As a result, no police report would exist for these offenses.
Now imagine that an unbelieving neighbor witnesses a husband repeatedly berating his wife and children. The neighbor could serve as a corroborating witness to the testimony of the wife as stipulated by BCO 35-4. But during the preparation for trial, the neighbor says that she cannot take the oath in good conscience because she does not believe in God or the existence of Hell. Since the secular authorities are highly unlikely to criminally prosecute verbal and psychological abuse, no police report will exist. How is the church court to proceed? What if the wife wants a divorce, how will the church court decide the matter in absence of a theist to testify? Surely you can see the conundrum here.
Conclusion: Non-theists with relevant information should be allowed to testify in PCA courts
BCO 35-5 states that the court must judge the credibility of any witness. Why not allow any competent witness with relevant information testify and allow each court to judge his or her credibility? I struggle to see the problem here.
Some have characterized this issue as “Admitting Atheists to Church Courts.” This is a highly prejudicial summary, which makes it sound like atheists will be granted standing in church courts to make complaints or file charges. This is not what is being proposed. Instead, we are asking that non-theists be allowed to offer eyewitness testimony when they are called by an officer of the court, their credibility to be judged by that court. If such a person were to be caught in a lie in that proceeding, the non-theist could be sued in civil court for defamation. Furthermore, God will hold that person accountable for their lies at the Final Judgment whether that person believes in God or not.
What about the following scenario? A young woman is raped by a church member, and in the course of her treatment in the hospital consents to a rape kit being performed by the ER nurse. Later, for some reason, the young woman decides not to file criminal charges against her rapist.[7] However, because she is encouraged to do so by a fellow church member that she opened up to about the rape, she discloses the offense to her pastor. There are no other witnesses and the accused church member claims the encounter was consensual. The only other evidence is the rape kit and the ER nurse who performed it. The same problems stated above for police reports now exist: how can the report be entered into evidence, even if it can be obtained? How can the report be cross-examined? Let’s say that the ER nurse is willing to testify, however when being prepared by the prosecution she discloses that she cannot in good conscience take the oath because she does not believe in God or the existence of hell. Where do we go from there?
In absence of any judicial action by the church, the rapist cannot be expelled from membership or the church building. Where does that leave the victim? She must either continue to attend worship with her rapist, causing her to be repeatedly retraumatized by her rapist, or she must leave for another church. The Christ-honoring result should be that the rapist is excommunicated, he is expelled from the church building, and the victim is surrounded with love and support by her pastor, elders, and fellow church members.
Here is another scenario, which sadly occurs all too often today. Let’s say that a young woman is repeatedly assaulted by a church leader; and the trauma of her abuse- and the church’s lack of response to it- results in her losing her trust in God such that she declares herself to be an atheist. Let’s say another victim of that same leader surfaces, who still has standing in the church courts and wants to take the case to trial. The testimony of the first victim could offer corroborating evidence of the second victim. Yet, because she is an avowed atheist- as a result of her horrific abuse mind you- she cannot testify in a PCA judicial proceeding.
Anyone who is willing to be imaginative can continue to come up with a host of likely scenarios where it would be legitimate and necessary for a church court to admit the testimony of a non-theist.
Let us not wait for a horrible instance like these to occur before making the needed changes. Let us be proactive in protecting the sheep of the church and holding the wolves accountable.
[1] M49GA, p. 1120. Clicking on the link in footnote 190 will take you to the fact page: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system.
[2] The NSVRC was cited in the DASA report, but not this particular fact sheet. The fact sheet is well documented with reputable studies supporting their figures. “Statistics about sexual violence,” National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015, accessed here: https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/publications_nsvrc_factsheet_media-packet_statistics-about-sexual-violence_0.pdf.
[3] Ibid.
[4] M49GA, p. 1120. There are a multitude of reasons why factual accusations of sexual assault do not make it to trial due to prosecutor discretion. As stated below in note 5, only 2%-8% of sexual assault claims are false.
[5] M49GA, p. 1220, footnote 272.
[6] Doing the math from the above statistic, 25 out of 310 police reports resulting in conviction comes out to 8% of police reports.
[7] A Department of Justice study found the following reasons why victims did not report sexual assault: 20% feared retaliation, 13% believed the police would not do anything to help, 13% believed it was a personal matter, 8% reported to a different official, 8% believed it was not important enough to report, 7% did not want to get the perpetrator in trouble, 2% believed the police could not do anything to help, 30% gave another reason, or did not cite one reason. See “The Criminal Justice System: Statistics,” RAINN, accessed at https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system, footnote 5.
Vita pastoralis 