Jackie Update

[Content Note: Rape culture; sexual violence.]

Yesterday, I mentioned that the Charlottesville, Virginia, police department were planning to publicly disclose the results of their investigation into the reported gang rape of a University of Virginia student known as Jackie, which was centrally featured in a Rolling Stone article last year.

The results of their investigation were these:

Charlottesville Police announced Monday that its investigation into an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia's Phi Kappa Psi fraternity did not find enough evidence to support the account described in a Rolling Stone magazine article published last year.

Charlottesville Chief of Police Tim Longo said during a press conference the case would not be closed, however, because he cannot say conclusively that no assault took place. The alleged victim, a female undergraduate identified only as Jackie, did not provide a statement or any testimony to Charlottesville police during its investigation, Longo said.

"It's a disservice to Jackie and to the university to close this" case without leaving open the possibility that additional information will come to light, Longo said.

..."Unfortunately, we're not able to conclude to any substantive degree that an incident that is described in [the article] occurred at the Phi Kappa Psi or any other fraternity, for that matter," Longo said. However, he noted, "that doesn't mean something terrible did not happen to Jackie on Sept. 28, 2012. We're just not able to gather sufficient facts to determine what that is."

So, basically, the investigation neither proved nor disproved Jackie's story. The investigation could not substantiate the charges, which is not unusual in a rape case, especially one that is three years old.

So how is this being reported? I bet you can guess! Here's a pretty typical example, care of a prominent placement on NBC News' website yesterday afternoon:


That is, of course, technically a true headline. But if all one read was the headline, it doesn't convey even a little that the police also could not disprove Jackie's account, and that the police chief very carefully and deliberately said the case remains open.

It might as well just say, "Police Say Jackie's a Fucking Liar." Except it can't say that, because police didn't say that.

This is rape culture.