Accusation in Montana of Treating Rape Lightly Stirs Unlikely Public Fight

For nearly three years, this college town in the hills of western Montana has lived under the shadow of stories of rapes gone unpunished and complaints that officials minimized or ignored reports of sexual assaults — especially if the suspects played for the University of Montana Grizzlies, the wildly popular football team.

The latest blow landed over the winter when federal investigators released a 20-page report saying the county prosecutor’s office had disregarded sexual assaults to the point that it was placing "women in Missoula at increased risk of harm." The accusations were vivid and damning: The Justice Department described accounts of a victim who had been told, "All you want is revenge," and said a prosecutor had told a mother that "boys will be boys" in the wake of an adolescent’s sexual assault of her 5-year-old daughter.

By JACK HEALY

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/us/accusation-in-montana-of-treating-rape-lightly-stirs-unlikely-public-fight.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0