A string of sexual attacks in trendy Chicago lakefront neighborhoods obscured a grim reality, says the Chicago Tribune: Most reported sexual assaults occur in other parts of the city, where poverty and crime create much higher risks. The attacks and weekend arrest prompted extensive media coverage. Detective Jeffrey Roberts said that police have pursued at least four serial rapists that did not get the same kind of attention that they would in high-income areas.
Most reported rapes take place in communities where there is a high rate of poverty and the population is mostly minority. The higher-income northern police district had 35 reported sexual assault victims last year between Jan. 1 and Dec. 18; a lower-income southern district had 172. Prosecutor Bernie Murray said that cases become media “heaters.” “In deference to (the media), if there’s a neighborhood where there is not a lot of crime, and then you have a situation where there’s a serial rapist in the area, that’s news,” Murray said.
Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0501040305jan04,1,5071272.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed