Myths and legends: The reality of rape offences reported to a UK police force

Abstract

Rape myths affect many aspects of the investigative and criminal justice systems. One such myth, the 'real rape' myth, states that most rapes involve a stranger using a weapon attacking a woman violently at night in an isolated, outdoor area, and that women sustain serious injuries from these attacks. The present study examined how often actual offences reported to a central UK police force over a two year period matched the 'real rape' myth. Out of 400 cases of rape reported, not a single incident was found with all the characteristics of the 'real rape' myth. The few stranger rapes that occurred had a strong link to night-time economy activities, such as the victim and offender both having visited pubs, bars, and clubs. By contrast, the majority of reported rape offences (280 cases, 70.7%) were committed by people known to the victim (e.g., domestic and acquaintance rapes), occurred inside a residence, with most victims sustaining no physical injuries from the attack. The benefits of these naturalistic findings from the field for educating people about the inaccuracy of rape myths are discussed.

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

“…Regardless of the cause, overall results from this study suggest that whilst officers do not hold victims in partner cases as more responsible, they do hold a less negative view of perpetrators, and may still devalue these cases (Simonson & Subich, 1999). The presence of attitudes or judgments that may serve to trivialise rape cases of this type is particularly worrying considering the high proportion of cases that involve a current partner (Office for National Statistics, 2015a; Waterhouse et al, 2016).…”

“…Additionally, officers also appear to view victims in scenarios involving pre-existing relationships as more responsible for their victimization. These results are particularly worrying considering that the majority (71%) of rape offences reported to the police in the UK are committed by someone known to the victim (based on data from 2010-2011, Waterhouse, Reynolds, & Egan, 2016). Furthermore, women who are victims in these cases may be less inclined to report their victimization due to a belief that the existence of a prior relationship with their attacker undermines their claim of rape in the eyes of police officers.…”

“…However, specialist officers appeared to judge the perpetrator in partner scenarios involving 'late' resistance as less responsible than non-specialist officers. This may be due to the exposure that specialist officers have to cases of this type (Waterhouse et al, 2016), and how the challenges involved in these cases shape their expectancies regarding responsibility (Venema, 2016b). This specific results aside, results broadly support previous research demonstrating no differences in judgments of responsibility made by specialist and non-specialist officers (Sleath & Bull, 2012).…”

Characteristics of convicted male-on-female rapists in the South of Sweden between 2013 and 2018: a pilot study

“…Although this approach prevents the outcome being generalized to all rapes (e.g. unreported rapes or those without criminal proceedings) and includes the risk that the convictions are tainted by rape myth and bias in court case progression decisions [13], it offers a clear image of the circumstances under which rape occurs.…”

El error judicial en el uso de la prisión preventiva: Personas en prisión que nunca llegan a ser condenadas.

“…Este fenómeno puede ser explicado por el efecto psicológico sobre los decisores judiciales de la sobrerrepresentación de la población pobre entre los reclusos, así como por la dificultad de la gente con bajos recursos económicos para pagar la fianza, cuando es el caso (Schönteich, 2014). También se han llevado a cabo estudios sobre el efecto del sesgo racial o de los estereotipos delictivos (Waterhouse, Reynolds, y Egan, 2016). En relación a ello, la Unión Europea (van Kalmthout, Knapen, y Morgenstern, 2009) comunica que hay una notable sobrerrepresentación de la población extranjera encarcelada, si bien el tamaño de efecto hallado en las investigaciones (r =.03 y r =.01), revela una relación de poca importancia entre esta característica de los acusados y los juicios de culpa respectivamente (Devine y Cauglin, 2014).…”