Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice [Hardcover]

Bill Lueders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 2006

Cry Rape dramatically exposes the criminal justice system’s capacity for error as it recounts one woman’s courageous battle in the face of adversity. In September 1997, a visually impaired woman named Patty was raped by an intruder in her home in Madison, Wisconsin. The rookie detective assigned to her case came to doubt Patty’s account and focused the investigation on her. Under pressure, he got her to recant, then had her charged with falsely reporting a crime. The charges were eventually dropped, but Patty continued to demand justice, filing complaints and a federal lawsuit against the police. All were rebuffed. But later, as the result of her perseverance, a startling discovery was made. Even then, Patty’s ordeal was far from over.
     Other books have dealt with how police and prosecutors bend and break the law in their zeal to prevail. This one focuses instead on how the gravest injustice can be committed with the best of intentions, and how one woman’s bravery and persistence finally triumphed.

 

 

Courage Award Winner, Wisconsin Coalition against Sexual Assault

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lueders, news editor of a weekly Madison, Wis., paper, opens this real-life drama in the wee hours of Sept. 4, 1997, when Patty, a 38-year-old legally blind single mother sharing an apartment with her pregnant daughter, was raped in her bedroom by an intruder who held a knife to her neck. The rape was the beginning of a seven-year nightmare in which police, saying they couldn't find evidence of the rape, bullied Patty into saying she had lied, and she was charged with obstruction of justice. Patty almost went bankrupt trying to salvage what little was left of her reputation and sanity. Lueders spells out how Patty suffered from incompetence and bias at every level of law enforcement. The DA eventually dropped the charges against her, and DNA evidence helped convict the rapist, but some law enforcement officials continue to insist they did nothing wrong. This account by Lueders (An Enemy of the State: The Life of Erwin Knoll), one of the first people who went to bat for Patty, is a shocking revelation of the abuse rape victims are sometimes subjected to by the very people who should be seeking justice for them. (Nov.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* This is a powerful example of how an investigative reporter can right injustices and expose the need for further reform. Lueders, news editor for Isthmus, an alternative newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin, and president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, has expanded his original investigative series for his paper into a compelling book, as suspenseful and harrowing as the best mystery novels. In September 1997, a visually impaired woman named Patty, living in Madison, was raped in her home, her teen daughter asleep in her own room just down the hallway. Patty has suffered a double nightmare: the sexual assault itself and her revictimization at the hands of police, particularly through the bias of one police detective, who suspected (and later charged) Patty with falsely reporting a crime. Lueders lays bare the many missteps of the case, starting with the detective's bias and continuing through the unwillingness of the justice system to support one woman's word against the police, even after DNA evidence was found. Patty herself emerges as a remarkable heroine: legally blind, scraping by on a paltry income, she keeps fighting to be heard. This works as investigative journalism, heroic tale, and exquisitely paced mystery. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (August 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299219607
• ISBN-13: 978-0299219604
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Madison Idea, September 20, 2006

By 

Rick Bogle (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice (Hardcover)

Cry Rape is the story of a rape victim's victimization by the criminal justice system. It is a story about a cop who seems predisposed to "prove" rape victims liars, about a police department that protects bad cops, about a district attorney's office willing to further victimize the victim to protect bad cops, about judges willing to interpret the law in ways that protect bad cops and bad policies, about elected and appointed officials who stand behind the victimization, and (though only peripherally) newspaper editors who don't seem to care.

It is also the story of one woman's heroic and uphill fight against the system and the small group of people who believed and supported her and were sometimes victimized as a result.

Conversations in Cry Rape, suggest that the majority of rape victims choose to walk away and admit defeat rather than standing up to a criminal justice system that is more interested in closing their file than helping them find justice. This victim's inner strength makes her story the exception.

This story takes place in Madison, Wisconsin, long perceived to be a bastion of progressive ideas. But Cry Rape exposes the plain fact that Madison's government can be as self-serving and self-protective as governments anywhere. The central story is the rape victim's years-long ordeal; but the strong secondary story is the way the system deals with a cop who shouldn't be a cop. He is rewarded and remains today an honored officer.

In spite of the ugliness exposed in Cry Rape, it does offer us a spark of hope. It shows that investigative journalism can make a positive difference and that there are some reporters and editors willing to stick with a difficult story. We learn that there actually are honest attorneys who seek justice for their clients instead of just clocking billing hours.

Readers unconnected to Madison or Wisconsin will be entertained by Cry Rape's distinct detective novel feel and the twists and turns that lead to surprising discoveries throughout the story. Alert, informed readers might find similarities between the way Madison's city government and the University of Wisconsin, Madison deal with liars and bad apples. Promoting such people seems to be the Madison Idea.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Horror Story, October 20, 2006

By 

Kathleen Culver (Madison, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice (Hardcover)

I sat in stunned silence as I turned the final page of "Cry Rape," Bill Lueders' heart-rending story of a rape victim doubted, and ultimately tormented, by police. My 10-year-old son asked about what I had been reading, saying, "Is it a mystery?"

I replied, "No, it's about a lady who was hurt badly in a crime and told the police. Not only did the police refuse to find the person who hurt her, they accused her of lying. Eventually they found the criminal who hurt her but even then, the police didn't help her."

His response: "Oh, so it's a horror story."

It is the most fitting summary I've yet seen of this tremendous book. Lueders' story unfolds chronologically from the first page, which begins with the shock and terror of a brutal rape. It leads to eventual vindication, but not without further terror and further brutality -- at the hands of police, attorneys and others the victim trusted most.

This book must be read not for how it is written though Lueders' dramatic-documentary style makes the story impossible to forget. It must be read because it shows us how our most vulnerable citizens can be further victimized by the very systems designed to help them. In short, it is a morality tale that highlights the immorality of the institutions many of us trust.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting journey into my own mirror, January 4, 2007

By 

Sue Puckett (Ringgold GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice (Hardcover)

As I read this book, I could not stop turning the pages. I read the first 120 pages without getting up. I already knew the end of the story, but I had to read the remarkable journey. This lady opened herself up for such an honest portrayal of the most hideous events of her life to share them publicly and it is truly amazing. Know this, Patty, and Bill for writing it, if for nothing else, I am a life that was touched.

My mirror holds much the same story, and the same deals are offered to me. Everything within me says "stand by the truth" - but the truth is so hard when it hurts you. You have given me renewed courage to fight the fight. I will not give in and I will continue to tell the truth. The system has got acknowledge when it's wrong. Thank you both so much.