Patterned Characteristics of Continued and Discontinued Sexual Assault Complaints in the Criminal Justice Process

Suspect Survivors: Police Investigation Practices in Sexual Assault Cases in Ontario, Canada

“…The data in this study suggest that survivors who do not fit the narrow confines of what investigators deem to be normal responses to sexual assault are often viewed with greater suspicion. These findings align with existing scholarship on sexual assault policing, which suggests that survivors' behavior, social location, and response to the sexual assault can influence the likelihood that police believe a sexual assault report and see it as credible (Hodgson, 2010;Irving, 2008;Kingsnorth et al, 1999;Martin, 2005;Muldoon et al, 2013;Tasca et al, 2012). Taken together, this evidence suggests that survivors' pervasive fears of being dismissed and not believed by police that were so clearly depicted in tweets following the 2014 #BeenRapedNeverReported hashtag are in fact well founded.…”

“…More contemporary empirical evidence on law enforcement suggests that Estrich's analysis of the law's narrow understanding of what constitutes real rape still rings true. Quantitative analyses of police investigations of sexual assault have shown that a survivor's behavior, social location, use of drugs or alcohol before the assault, level of resistance during the assault, and lack of injuries following the assault all lessen the likelihood that police see the survivor's report as credible (Kelley & Campbell, 2013;Kingsnorth, MacIntosh, & Wentworth, 1999;Muldoon et al, 2013;Tasca et al, 2012). Other analyses of legal responses to sexual assault have shown that there is significant misunderstanding of sexual assault victimization among police (R. Campbell, 2012) and that racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and transphobia in law enforcement continue to create significant barriers for women of color, Aboriginal women, disabled women, and transwomen to reporting sexual assault and being seen as credible in the eyes of police (Irving, 2008;Lievore, 2005;Martin, 2005;Murray & Heenan, 2012;Odette, 2012;Spohn & Horney, 1992 ).…”

“…Although police attitudes and perceptions of survivors' behavior and social location, and the influence they have on the outcomes of sexual assault investigations, have been well documented in quantitative studies (Kelley & Campbell, 2013;Kingsnorth et al, 1999;Muldoon et al, 2013;Tasca et al, 2012), fewer studies have used qualitative interview-based methods to examine policing practices and investigative techniques used in sexual assault policing. To deepen scholarly discussion of policing practice, more scholarly investigation could be devoted to the formal and informal training that police receive on assessing the truthfulness of sexual assault reports and the credibility and honesty of sexual assault survivors and how this training shapes policing practice.…”

“…To gain greater insight into how sexual assault reports come to be dismissed by police and why so many survivors continue to be reluctant to report their assaults to law enforcement, it is imperative to look more closely at police practice. Much of the existing research on policing practice in sexual assault investigations has drawn on quantitative data to examine police attitudes and other variables that influence police investigative decision making (Bouffard, 2000;Kelley & Campbell, 2013;Lord & Rassel, 2008;Muldoon, Taylor, & Norma, 2013;Tasca, Rodriguez, Spohn, & Koss, 2012). Departing from this trend, this article uses qualitative data to examine policing practice in sexual assault investigations by turning specific attention to the techniques that police investigators use to assess the credibility and truthfulness of survivors' reports of sexual assault.…”

Victim participation in criminal justice: A quantitative systematic and critical literature review

“…When they do participate, studies consistently identify ‘common points of failure’ in authorities meeting victims’ ‘needs’ (Parsons and Bergin, 2010: 182) including a reliance on particular victim stereotypes (Muldoon et al, 2013) and routine failures that leave victims uninformed (Irazola et al, 2015). Consequently, research shows that when victims do participate they almost invariably feel let down.…”