Jessica Ladd knows women don’t report rapes because they’re afraid to. That’s all changing. Picture: Elizabeth D. Herman/The New York Times/Headpress

First, the victims regularly fail to report their sexual assaults to police. There are a number of reasons for that, including that conviction rates are an embarrassment.

Second, we know rapists are repeat offenders. Because they can get away with it, they do so time and again.

Jessica Ladd, 30, was sexually assaulted when she was a college student. She didn’t report her assault until a year later and, when she did, she says she “found the experience more traumatising than the assault itself”.

Having been through that, she was determined to find a solution. She may have just done that.

Recently, Ms Ladd launched Callisto, a sexual assault reporting system that has since been adopted by a number of US college campuses — places where one in five women will experience sexual assault, she says.

The system is remarkably simple with flashes of genius: most notably the use of technology those familiar with dating app Tinder will recognise. This is how it works:

When a woman is raped, she can log on to a website at a time and place when she is most comfortable. She doesn’t have to go to police immediately.

In a majority of cases, women know the men who rape them. Online, the victim can record details of her attacker. The next step is where Callisto separates itself from the pack.

If another woman has reported the same attacker, or reports him in future, the two will “match” and the information will be forwarded to police for investigation.

Ms Ladd says getting a match “changes everything”.

“Knowing that you weren’t the only one changes everything,” she said.

“It changes the way you frame your own experience, it changes the way you think about your perpetrator. It means that if you do come forward you’ll have someone else’s back and they’ll have yours.”

In an interview with news.com.au, the founder and CEO of Sexual Health Innovations said her system was giving women the power to make their own choices.

“Low reporting and poor response when survivors do report means that there is not much of a deterrent to assault,” she said.

“If we can transform the reporting process into something that is actually empowering to an individual and gives them a decent chance of justice, then we’re not just helping survivors — we’re helping create a system where this is less likely to happen again.”

Ms Ladd’s position on reporting is somewhat controversial but she stands by comments that reporting a sexual assault to police is not always the best option.

“I fully support anyone’s decision to not report. But (if they do), we don’t need to make it so hard.”

She says since going live with the site, she has been overwhelmed with support. If she had any lingering doubts about the system’s value, they quickly dissolved.

“The outpouring of support for Callisto has been incredible. In some ways I am (surprised) to see survivors outing themselves to their social networks in order to fundraise, or in order to ask their schools to adopt the system.

“That has been incredible and so validating and meaningful.”

The system is operating on a handful of campuses but Ms Ladd wants to see it operating everywhere. She said the company was “exploring options outside” college campuses and she had previously mentioned it could be used within military circles.

“Eventually, we want a Callisto-like system for every survivor in the United States (and) we’ve open-sourced our code in the hope that people can build similar systems in other countries.”

Her message for survivors is that they’re not alone. She had a message for perpetrators, too.

“If you realise that what you did was wrong, and you care, pick up the phone — now — and apologise,” she said.

“Apologise, beg their forgiveness, promise that you’ve learned your lesson and will never do it again, and then do just that — learn your lesson and never do it again.

“If you just don’t care, if you think it’s acceptable to have sex with someone who hasn’t decided to have sex with you or isn’t able to make that decision, then know this — we are coming for you. And together, we will win.”