Fewer than a quarter of people charged with sexual assault in North Carolina from 2014-2018 were convicted of a sex-related crime. That is according to a new analysis from 11 news organizations in North Carolina, led by Carolina Public Press. The reporting also identifies big disparities in conviction rates from one county to the next.
Host Frank Stasio talks to Kate Martin and Jason deBruyn about the project, which culminated in the four-day investigative series “Seeking Conviction.” Martin is the lead investigative reporter at Carolina Public Press and deBruyn is WUNC’s data reporter.
They talk about why there might be disparities in sexual assault conviction rates across the state, why so many sexual assault charges are plead down to lesser crimes and what they heard from the experts.