Little is known about the social correlates of serial rape or about trends in offending across time and space in the United States. Furthermore, the limited serial rape scholarship that exists was largely generalized from small, captive samples. The current study aims to amplify our understanding of serial rape by pursuing three fundamental objectives. First, guided by theory and research we propose a new, more precise, and comprehensive conceptualization of serial rape. Next, we draw from media representations of serial rape published in five major American newspapers from 1940 to 2010 to develop an offender social profile and to identify patterns in attack style. Our analysis of a broad and diverse sample of serial offenders described in media accounts ( N = 1,037) produced the following profile estimates—age: 27 years; race/ethnicity: African American, 46%; Caucasian, 29%; Latino, 19%; Asian, 5%. Most offenders were employed in unskilled or semiskilled occupations and the most common attack strategy was the surprise approach (47%). Finally, our data allow us to estimate and interpret historical trends as depicted in media accounts. Our analysis revealed low levels of serial rape in newspaper accounts during the 1940s to 1950s, followed by a steady increase (with periodic decreases) leading to a peak in 1991. This peak is followed by a steady and dramatic decline from 1992 to 2010.
PurposeVictim resistance has been shown to have an important impact on the outcome of sexual assaults. Thus, the factors that affect a victim’s likelihood of various levels of resistance are relevant to consider, given the possibly detrimental effect these actions can have on crime outcome. While not intended to blame the victim in any way, it is important to examine the role the victim plays within a sexually coercive interchange in order to completely understand the sex crime event and, thus, be able to inform potential victims as to the patterns that increase resistance and, potentially, overall violence. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachSequential logistic regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 613 sex offenses (incorporating both adult and child victims) to examine the individual and combined effects of offender lifestyle, disinhibitors, victim vulnerability, situational impediments and offender modus operandi on victim resistance levels.FindingsResults suggest that indicators of offender mindset are significant, particularly the use of pornography prior to the crime, and affect victim interpretation and response to the offender’s actions during the course of the assault. Other relevant factors include the victim’s age and the degree of violence present in the offender’s approach and subsequent offending strategies.Originality/valueThis information would be helpful to incorporate into victim education programs so that past and future potential victims can better understand the criminal event and the causes and effects of their own actions within that event.
As this book highlights, transgender intimate partner violence (T-IPV) is both a prevalent and impactful phenomenon, with unique causes, tactics, abuser rationalizations, victim resistance and coping strategies, and barriers to escape. Beyond detailing the nature of T-IPV, Transgender Intimate Partner Violence: A Comprehensive Introduction provides evidence-based insights for improving future research, mental and medical health-care provision, services by shelters and law enforcement, legal protections, prevention education, and provider training networks. This concluding chapter reviews the core lessons of the book and each of its chapters and discusses how we might work to address key gaps in research, service provision, and the law—and, ultimately, how we may build toward a safer tomorrow.
Upon encountering victim resistance during the commission of a sexual assault, an offender makes a decision as to how to react to the resistance via the use of varying degrees of coercive or noncoercive tactics. Exhaustive chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) analyses were performed on a sample of 369 criminal events to detect the significant situational and crime-specific factors, the pertinent interactions between these factors, and how these affect an offender’s reaction to victim resistance depending on whether the victim is a child or an adult. Findings show that multiple interactions do occur and, moreover, factors affecting the offender’s reaction to victim resistance are very different depending on whether the victim is a child or an adult. Planning and preparation variables, such as the offender’s attack strategy, were found to be significant in the child victim model, whereas reactive variables, such as the type of victim resistance, were found to be significant in the adult victim model. The findings lend support to the social interactionist perspective and the importance of victim–offender dynamics.
Correction to: Deliberating or Stalling for Justice? Dynamics of Corporate Remediation and Victim Resistance Through the Lens of Parentalism: The Fundão dam Collapse and the Renova Foundation in Brazil
