Making Judgments: How Blame Mediates the Influence of Rape Myth Acceptance in Police Response to Sexual Assault

Abstract

As research continues to describe negative experiences and high case attrition within sexual assault cases reported to the police, it is important to better understand the role of first-responding police officers. This study surveyed a sample of sworn police officers ( N = 174) from one department in a midsized city in the Great Lakes region to examine the effect of individual police officer characteristics, rape myth acceptance (RMA), attributions of blame, and case characteristics from a hypothetical vignette, on officer perceptions of a "good" case and behavioral intentions. Results found that although RMA predicts both perceptions of the case and behavioral intentions to respond in ways indicative of perceived seriousness, RMA is mediated by attributions of suspect blame. Victim alcohol use was found to decrease an officer's likelihood of responding more vigorously, showing less likelihood of calling a detective or arresting the suspect, if identified. Future research should begin to connect not only case characteristics but also individual police officer characteristics, attitudes, and attributions of blame, with real case outcomes, in addition to hypothetical scenarios.

Police perceptions of rape victims and the impact on case decision making: A systematic review

“…The following inclusion criteria were then applied: the study must include (i) a police officer sample; (ii) a quantitative or qualitative assessment of one of the following attitudes (a) blaming (or responsibility) (b) credibility, or (c) rape myth acceptance; and (iii) original data as opposed to a review or meta-analysis (these criteria were also applied in the following searches). Screening of abstracts and titles resulted in seven studies being extracted: Areh, Mesko, and Umek (2009), Darwinkle, POLICE OFFICER ATTITUDES ABOUT RAPE VICTIMS Powell, and Tidmarsh (2013), Maddox, Lee, and Barker (2013), Sleath and Bull (2012), Rich and Seffrin (2012), Venema (2016) and Wentz and Archbold (2012). As rape victim blaming is often overlapped with attributions of responsibility and these two concepts are conceptually linked (see Shaver, 1985), the above search was completed with the last component being victim respon* to ensure that all blaming and responsibility articles were found.…”

“…This systematic search revealed that the majority of the studies used quantitative methodologies to assess the perception of victims or the acceptance of rape myths. Only five articles solely used qualitative methods (Campbell et al, 2015;Fragoso, 2011;Maddox, Lee, & Barker, 2012 1 ;Venema, 2014Venema, , 2016) with a further two containing a qualitative component (Mennicke et al, 2014;Wentz & Archbold, 2012). The predominant methodology to examine perceptions of victims was use of a vignette of a rape scenario, followed by questions regarding blame and/or credibility, as well as questions that related to police decision making, e.g., decisions to authorise the case, perceptions of guilt (see Table 1 for details).…”

“…Thirteen papers examined rape myth acceptance in police officers (Goodman-Delahunty & Graham, 2011;Lonsway et al, 2001;Mennicke et al, 2014;Page, 2007Page, , 2008aPage, , 2008bPage, , 2010Rich & Seffrin, 2012, 2013Sleath & Bull, 2012Venema, 2016). As with victim blaming, some studies noted that rape myth acceptance was at a low level amongst most police officers (Mennicke et al, 2014, U.S.A., n = 149), although this varied according to the type of rape myth.…”

The impact of victim-perpetrator relationship, reputation and initial point of resistance on officers' responsibility and authenticity ratings towards hypothetical rape cases

“…Such research is vital in improving understanding of how officers may evaluate cases of rape in real life, and in establishing which rape-myth-related elements of cases are likely to create variations in said judgments. This is particularly important considering the strong evidence in support of the detrimental effect of negative attitudes on officers' decision making during the investigative process (O'Keeffe, Brown, & Lyons, 2009;Venema, 2016a) and on their evaluations of victim and rape legitimacy (Venema, 2016b). Furthermore, victims' opinions and beliefs about how they feel officers will approach their case has a substantial impact on their decision to report (Jordan, 2001(Jordan, , 2004; for example, between 11% and 26% of victims chose not to report because they believed officers: would not believe them, would not act upon the information, and would not be sympathetic (Office for National Statistics, 2015a; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000).…”

The Role of Military Law and Systemic Issues in the Military's Handling of Sexual Assault Cases

“…The research on gender biases in charging decisions in civilian jurisdictions for sexual assaults leads us to expect that commanders would routinely fail to take action on sexual assault cases despite compelling evidence (Spohn et al ; Venema ). Officials would view cases through the gendered lens of rape myths (Spohn and Tellis ; Venema ), with victims revictimized and perpetrators seldom held to account (Campbell and Fehler‐Cabral ; Shaw et al ; Venema ). Research on civilian systems has also found that subtle biases do lead victims to report late and withdraw from the subsequent case investigations (Anders and Christopher ).…”