Fear of police questioning deterred an Okinawan rape victim from reporting

Evidence

On the sidewalk that day, the soldiers forced her into their car, took her to a nearby park, and raped her. “I heard people’s voices in the playground just beyond the trees,” Yumi said. “But I couldn’t raise my voice for the whole time. Later I managed to get up and go home.” She felt she couldn’t ask her parents for help. Eventually she talked to her brother’s friend, who was studying law. He told Yumi the police would take her back to the crime scene and would make her reenact what happened in front of male police officers. If the case went to court, she would have to repeat it again. “He asked me if I could do that. And I thought I couldn’t. So I didn’t report it to the police. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 562

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the underreporting discussion in the Okinawa Women Act documentation at location 564 and to broader themes about why sexual assault victims stay silent.