The legal reforms of the 1960s and 1970s notwithstanding, sexual assault is a crime characterized by underreporting and case attrition. In this article, the authors synthesize research examining the criminal justice system's response to sexual assault. The authors begin by examining research on the victim's decision to report the crime to the police. This is followed by a discussion of the findings of sexual assault case processing research, with a focus on the criminal justice system's response to aggravated and simple rape and to intimate partner sexual violence. The authors end the article with a discussion of questions that research has yet to adequately answer. Keywords charging, sexual assault case outcomes, unfoundingThe past several decades have witnessed significant changes in rape law, both in the United States and elsewhere (Berger, Searles, & Neuman, 1988;Jordan, 2004;Marsh, Geist, & Caplan, 1982;Spohn & Horney, 1992). Although the scope of the reforms varied, many jurisdictions replaced the crime of rape with a series of gender-neutral offenses graded by seriousness and with commensurate penalties, loosened or eliminated the resistance and corroboration requirements, repealed marital rape exemptions, and enacted shield laws that restricted the use of evidence of the victim's prior sexual conduct. There also have been important modifications to sexual assault case processing policies and practices. Jurisdictions throughout the United States developed coordinated multidisciplinary approaches to Article 170 Violence Against Women 18(2) sexual assault (e.g., Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners [SANE], Sexual Assault Response Teams [SART], and other types of partnerships among criminal justice agencies and service providers) as well as specialized units for the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases. These legal and policy changes were designed to improve the treatment of sexual assault victims and, thus, to prompt more victims to report the crime to the police. They also were designed to improve the response of the criminal justice system to the crime of sexual assault by reducing case attrition and increasing the likelihood of successful prosecution.Recent statistics suggest that these reforms have not produced the predicted instrumental effects. 1 In 2006, U.S. residents aged 12 or older experienced an estimated 272,350 rape and sexual assault victimizations; however, only 41.4% of these victimizations were reported to the police (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). 2 Of forcible rapes reported to the police in 2006, only 39.5% were cleared by arrest or by exceptional means (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2006). There also is evidence that prosecution of rape cases remains problematic. In 2004, the conviction rate for felony defendants charged with rape in the 75 largest counties in the United States was 62%; 54% of the defendants were convicted of felonies and 8% were convicted of misdemeanors (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2008). The legal and policy changes implemented over the past t...

One of the most controversial-and least understood-issues in the area of sexual violence is the prevalence of false reports of rape. Estimates of the rate of false reports vary widely, which reflects differences in way false reports are defined and in the methods that researchers use to identify them. We address this issue using a mixed methods approach that incorporates quantitative and qualitative data on sexual assault cases that were reported to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in 2008 and qualitative data from interviews with LAPD detectives assigned to investigate reports of sexual assault. We found that the LAPD was clearing cases as unfounded appropriately most, but not all, of the time and we estimated that the rate of false reports among cases reported to the LAPD was 4.5 percent. We also found that although complainant recantation was the strongest predictor of the unfounding decision, other factors indicative of the seriousness of the incident and the credibility of the victim also played a role. We interpret these findings using an integrated theoretical perspective that incorporates both Black's sociological theory of law and Steffensmeier, Ulmer, and Kramer's focal concerns perspective.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Prosecutors play a crucial role in determining whether persons who are accused of intimate partner sexual assault (IPSA) will be sanctioned by the criminal justice system. Prosecutors have unconditional discretion at the initial charging stage because a case rejection decision is typically immune to review. Using qualitative data from 47 IPSA complaints that were referred to Los Angeles County or City prosecution in 2008, this study examines the factors that influence charging decisions. Findings suggest that prosecutors consider both legal and extralegal factors when making charging decisions and that various cultural, legal, and rape myths surrounding IPSA influence these decisions.

No abstract

No abstract