Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape

Founded in 1975, PCAR works with a statewide network of 51 rape crisis centers serving all 67 counties across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide services to survivors of sexual violence.[5][6]

As part of this organization's mission, PCAR personnel research and advocate for public policies to protect and provide recovery assistance to victims of sexual violence and to hold sexual violence offenders accountable in order to improve the safety of communities.[7] During the fall of 1975, PCAR and its supporters lobbied members of the Pennsylvania State Legislature to change procedures statewide for defining, managing and prosecuting rape cases. Among the changes that were demanded:[8]

• Authorizing police and prosecutors to charge and prosecute husbands for raping their wives "provided they [were] living in separate residences or provided either spouse [had] filed a divorce complaint";
• Elimination of the requirement of proof of resistance by victims in order for rape cases to be prosecuted;
• Lengthening the amount of time that rape survivors had to file charges against offenders to ninety days after the dates of attack;
• Prohibiting the introduction of testimony regarding a rape victim's "past sexual conduct with anybody other than the accused rapist"; and
• Prohibiting judges from instructing juries that any victim's credibility was questionable due to "her emotional involvement in the event."

On March 16, 1976, PCAR joined with women's groups statewide to hold a lobby day at the Pennsylvania State Capitol when legislation prohibiting the introduction of victims' sexual histories into court cases was delayed by legislators attempting to weaken proposed changes by continuing to allow the introduction of sexual history information in statutory rape cases that involved victims who were aged sixteen or younger.[9][10]

In November 1978, PCAR executive director Sandra Lambert praised U.S. President Jimmy Carter for signing the Rape Victim Act into law on October 30 of that year. The federal law, which followed Pennsylvania's groundbreaking passage of Act 53 in 1976 to improve legal protections for rape survivors, was designed to reduce the introduction of testimony in future rape trials across the United States regarding survivors' past sexual histories by requiring that any such proposed testimony would be submitted to presiding judges in private hearings to determine whether or not it was directly related to the defense of alleged offenders and appropriate for trial use. According to Lambert, "In the 27 rape crisis centers in Pennsylvania, we have seen not only an increase in reporting of rape since Act 53 was passed, but also more offenders going to court." Lambert noted that the recidivism rate of rape offenders was estimated at seventy-three percent.[11]

From May through October of 1979, according to PCAR, 1,322 victims of rape sought assistance from nineteen of the thirty-five rape crisis centers operating across the state. Of those 1,322 survivors, 557 (42.1 percent) were children under the age of eighteen.[12]

In August 1979, Anne Pride, the administrator of Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, was elected as PCAR's president.[13] In December of that same year, the Pennsylvania House's Judiciary Committee voted 14-3 in favor of legislation that would strip husbands of the "right to use marriage as a defense against sexual assault charges." The bill had increased its co-sponsorship from five legislators during 1978 to twenty-four in 1979. Between June and March of 1978, seventy-seven women had reported being forced by their husbands to have sexual intercourse, against their will, according to PCAR, which noted that this figure was an increase from the fifty-nine cases of marital rape that had been reported in 1977.[14]

On February 5, 1980, PCAR joined with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence to present a Legislative Education Day at the Pennsylvania State Capitol to increase understanding about House Bills 744 and 745, which proposed the creation of The Office on Crime Victims to improve investigation and prosecution of domestic abuse and sexual assault crimes and fund domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers and support services for crime victims and witnesses.[15]

Beginning in the late 1970s, PCAR and its supporters developed and presented professional development and civic education programs that provided training for educators, healthcare workers, journalist, legal and public safety professionals, and members of the general public regarding the forms of sexual violence and their impact on communities across Pennsylvania.[16][17][18][19][20]

From 2009 to October 1, 2015, PCAR founded and provided financial management services for AEquitas, which supported prosecutors working on human trafficking and gender-based violence cases worldwide.[21][22]

In 2015, Pennsylvania enacted the Protection of Victims of Sexual Violence or Intimidation Law, which expanded "traditional court-ordered protection from its typical targets [of harassment]—such as ex-spouses or relatives—to acquaintances and strangers," including minors. According to Joyce Lukima, PCAR's chief operating officer, "Survivors of rape on college campuses have gotten protective orders under the law." Lukima added:[23]

"This really offers a tool for survivors to keep them safe. People are just becoming aware of this as an option for them. When they see there's some action they can take, they're probably more likely to reach out for help also."

In 2018, PCAR launched its Sexual Violence Legal Assistance Project to provide comprehensive legal services for sexual violence survivors.[24] It also lobbied the state legislature to eliminate civil and criminal statutes of limitation in child sexual abuse cases and to also "expand the window of opportunity for those who have timed out of the criminal and civil limits to seek justice" through civil methods later in life. According to PCAR's chief executive officer, Karen Baker:[25]

"We know that delayed reporting of sexual violence is normal, common and should be expected. Many people who have been sexually abused, wait months, years or decades before discussing what was done to them with anyone, let alone making a formal report to authorities.

We must give survivors of child sexual abuse the time they need to report on their own terms—not according to some arbitrary and outdated time limit.

We also know that adults who commit sexual violence tend to commit multiple acts against multiple people. And it is time for Pennsylvania law to reflect this reality and provide law enforcement the ability to investigate whenever a victim is ready to make a report in hopes of stopping the perpetrator from harming others."

PCAR was awarded the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations’ (PANO) Seal of Excellence for successfully completing its rigorous Standards for Excellence accreditation program, which enables nonprofits to meet specific standards for leadership, business management and day-to-day operations.[31]

• Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape