Submission title

Unfounded

Medium

Print

Year

2017

Type

Winner

Team

Robyn Doolittle

Description

In a massive investigation involving more than 250 Freedom of Information requests, the Globe and Mail’s Robyn Doolittle tracked dismissed, or “unfounded,” sexual assault cases handled by Canadian police. The result was this 2017 series—accompanied by the voices of experts and sexual assault complainants—which showed police were dismissing one in five such complaints. It also showed unfounded rates varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, raising questions about equity of access to justice. A follow-up survey revealed thousands of these cases had been misclassified and that one in three legitimate sexual assault reports had been wrongfully dismissed. The series spurred the federal government to pledge better police oversight, training and policies, along with $100 million to combat gender-based violence. Statistics Canada promised to resume collecting and publishing unfounded rates. In all, some 37 000 sexual assault cases were reviewed and more than 400 unfounded cases were reopened.