By all means, disparities and inadequacies in how police classify sexual assault allegations should be addressed. However, the following claim by the Globe editors is mere speculation:

"One result is that many women are choosing not to report sexual assaults to police, because they fear – with good reason, often – that they will not be taken seriously."

It's unlikely that either women or men are generally aware of how police go about classifying sexual assault cases. And it's self-evident that even in jurisdictions where the "unfounded" rate is higher that sexual assaults are being reported, otherwise the cases couldn't be categorized as unfounded.

If sexual assaults are in fact under-reported, there are probably a number of reasons for it. The Globe's obsession with the "unfounded" issue is understandable, given that they discovered it. But the government should take a far more broad and holistic view of the matter.