BILLINGS — None of the 60 rape cases reported last year in Montana’s most populous county resulted in charges as police and prosecutors struggled to get the cases to trial.
The Billings Gazette reported on Sunday that over the past five years Yellowstone County has prosecuted only about 15 percent of adult rape cases that were investigated and forwarded for possible charges.
County officials blamed the lack of prosecutions on the hesitance of some victims to press charges and the reluctance of juries to convict defendants of rape.
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice rebuked Missoula County authorities for prosecuting just 17 percent of rape cases that were referred by police investigators between 2008 and 2012.