To Report or Not to Report? A Focal Concerns Analysis of Victim Reporting Decisions Following Victimization

Sexual assault (SA) decision-making literature primarily focuses on criminal-legal actors and often overlooks victim decision making. This relative dearth in research is problematic, as victims are principal gatekeepers of the criminal-legal process who influence whether perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted. Subsequent victim support is also contingent on the reporting decision. Overall, this body of research would benefit from a better understanding of how victims activate and participate with the criminal-legal system and the potential impact of these decisions on criminal-legal processes. Moreover, victim decision making is often situated in a theoretical analyses. Victim decision making is complex and should be studied within a criminological decision-making framework. Therefore, the current study relies on National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data and applies a focal concerns perspective (FCP), informed by rape culture concepts, to examine why victims of sexual violence may or may not choose to report to legal authorities. The current study offers initial support for the application of FCP to victim reporting decisions. We found that victims consider each of the focal concerns (FC). Victims were more likely to report when offenders threatened them with harm (i.e., suspect blameworthiness), when the offense occurred in a private location (i.e., protection of the community), and when they sought help from victim support agencies or medical treatment (i.e., practical considerations). Additionally, we found that Black victims were more likely to report than other racial-ethnic groups (i.e., perceptual shorthand). These findings highlight a nexus between reporting to police and help-seeking via support agencies. Importantly, the results emphasize the importance for police to implement cultural competence and antiracist training to better support Black victims.

A Review of the Effects of the Violence Against Women Act on Law Enforcement

One of the goals of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was to improve law enforcement responses to sexual and domestic violence by providing funding to expand prevention, enhance investigations, and increase victim services. Since VAWA’s enactment, police responses to these crimes have evolved, including officer responses to victims and offenders, and various agency operations. This article highlights some noteworthy changes in law enforcement related to facilitating victim reporting, enhancing victim advocacy and services, crime reduction and investigative tools, supplementing personnel and training, and encouraging multiagency collaborations as a result of VAWA.

Reporting Racist Hate Crime Victimization to the Police in the United States and the United Kingdom: A Cross-National Comparison

Hate is a global phenomenon as evidenced by recent increases in hate crimes in both the United States and the United Kingdom; unfortunately, these crimes are also substantially underreported in both nations. Following this, this research presents an examination of racially motivated hate crimes and victim reporting to the police in both nations using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Crime Survey of England and Wales from 2003 to 2015. Results indicate that, overall, victim reporting has been increasing in the United Kingdom and decreasing in the United States. Disaggregating by victim and offender race, however, reveals divergent trends such that anti-black hate crime victim reporting is increasing in the United States and decreasing in the United Kingdom. Policy and research implications are discussed.

Sexual Harassment during Residency Training: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

The reality of sexual harassment is unmasking in many fields, and medical trainees constitute a vulnerable and at-risk group. We report the prevalence of sexual harassment among GI, internal medicine, and pediatric residents, with a focus on identifying underlying reasons for lack of victim reporting. A modified previously validated Department of Defense survey on sexual harassment was e-mailed to 261 GI, 132 pediatric, and 271 internal medicine program directors. Three hundred eighty-one residents responded to the survey. Female trainees were more likely to be subject to sexual harassment (83% vs 44%, P <0 .0001). Offensive and/or suggestive jokes and comments were the most common type of harassment experienced. Most residents were unlikely to report the offender (87% females, 93% males). Although 77 per cent of residents believed they would be supported by their program if they reported a sexual harassment event, only 43 per cent were aware of institutional support in place for victims at their program. Although there is a persistently high incidence of harassment in training, the avenues in which to report it are largely unknown and underused. Further research should focus on evidence-based interventions to encourage reporting and to design institutional programs for victims of sexual harassment.

Crime Victims’ Decisions to Call the Police: Past Research and New Directions

Over the past 50 years, researchers in the United States and abroad have debated the inherent inequities within justice systems that contribute to the underreporting of crime to the police. Our review summarizes existing knowledge about victim reporting and outlines new directions in theory and empirical research that situate this work within a broader perspective on victim help-seeking. We begin with a short review of the historical development of research on victim reporting and its implications for research and social policy. We then review and critique major explanations of victims’ reporting behavior and outline a new integrated multilevel framework. This model draws on the broader help-seeking literature to study police notification and other forms of victim help-seeking as interrelated systems that respond to social-contextual factors and feedback effects. We conclude by outlining the core empirical implications of this multilevel theoretical framework and illuminating the most significant data and research needs.

INFORMACIJOS APIE SEKSUALINĘ PRIEVARTĄ PATEIKIMO YPATUMŲ ĮTAKA STUDENČIŲ POŽIŪRIUI Į TOKIĄ PRIEVARTĄ

Tyrimu siekiama nustatyti prievartautojo, aukos, respondenčių charakteristikų ir lingvistikos priemonių įtaką studenčių seksualinės prievartos vertinimui. Tiriamos charakteristikos: 1) auka pažįstama / nepažįstama su prievartautoju, 2) auka blaivi / vartojusi alkoholio, 3) seksualinė prievarta apibūdinama terminu išžaginimas / nenorimi lytiniai santykiai. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad seksualinės prievartos aukos vertinamos nevienodai – kaip kaltesnės dėl seksualinės prievartos patyrimo, kai jos pažįsta prievartautoją ir kai vartojamas terminas „nenorimi lytiniai santykiai“, nei kai jos nepažįsta prievartautojo ir vartojamas terminas „išžaginimas“. Tačiau vartojamas terminas neturi didesnės įtakos seksualinės prievartos vertinimui, nei aukos ir prievartautojo santykio tipas. Prievartautojas laikomas kaltesniu ir nusipelniusiu griežtesnės bausmės, kai vartojamas terminas „išžaginimas“, o ne „nenorimi lytiniai santykiai“, ir tai turi daugiau įtakos vertinimui nei aukos ir prievartautojo santykis ar aukos būsena (blaivumas / apsvaigimas). Studentės teigia dažniau pranešiančios apie patirtą seksualinę prievartą, jei būtų vartojamas terminas „išžaginimas“, prievartautojas būtų nepažįstamas ir jos būtų nevartojusios alkoholio. Studenčių studijuojama specialybė ir studijų kursas nėra reikšmingai susiję su jų požiūriu į seksualinę prievartą.Pagrindiniai žodžiai: seksualinė prievarta, seksualinės prievartos vertinimas. Effect of information about sexual assault presentation specificities of female students’ attitude towards sexual assaultMitaitė A., Žardeckaitė-Matulaitienė K. SummaryThe aim of the study was to determine the effect of the characteristics of a rapist and a victim on the sexual assault assessment of female students.200 respondents participated in the research. 43.5% of them were 1st year, 52.0% – 2nd year, 3.5% – 3rd year, and 1 – 4th year female students of the Vytautas Magnus University. Their average age was 19.89 years (SD 1.009).The respondents have been presented with a research instrument composed of demographic questions, sexual assault scenarios of A. Wilkinson (8 versions), and questions related to the sexual assault scenarios. Each scenario was followed by five scales: Behavioral Blame (BB), Character Blame (CB), Punishment (P), Victim Reporting (VR), and Reporting (R). Each scale consisted of three questions, and responses were obtained on a 7-point Likert scale. All scenarios contain an identical sexual assault situation. However, three characteristics are manipulated with: 1) the victim is acquainted / unacquainted with the rapist, 2) the victim is sober / under the influence, 3) the sexual assault is defined by the term of rape / unwanted sex.The results of the research show that victims of sexual assault are assessed unequally. It has been found that sexual assault victims are blamed for their behavior as being more provocative for the sexual assault when they know the rapist (β = –0.412;p = 0.0001) and the term “unwanted sex” is used(β = 0.173; p < 0.009) in comparison with the situation when the rapist is a stranger and the assault is defined as “a rape”. Similarly, sexual assault victims are blamed for their character as being more responsible for the sexual assault when they know the rapist(β = -0.156; p = 0.024), and the term “unwanted sex” is used (β = 0.246; p = 0.001) in comparison with the situation when the rapist is a stranger and the assault is defined as “a rape”. However, the fact that the victim has consumed / not consumed alcohol does not have a significant effect on her blame (p > 0.05). Also, it has been found that the rapist is more responsible and deserving a stricter punishment, when the term “rape” is used, in comparison with the term “unwanted sex” (β = –0.363; p < 0.0001), and this issue has a more significant effect than the victim’s relation with the rapist (β = 0.285; p < 0.0001) or the victim’s condition (consumed / not consumed alcohol) (p < 0.05). Lastly, respondents think that the victim tends to report about sexual assault more often when the term “rape” is used (β = –0.330; p < 0.0001) and the rapist is unacquainted with the victim (β = 0.203; p = 0.002). Also respondents hypothetically think that they personally would report about a sexual assault more often when they would be sober (β = 0.150;p = 0.033), they would not know the rapist (β = 0.157;p = 0.023), and the term “rape” would used (β = –0.232; p = 0.001). Additionally respondents demographic characteristics (the year of study and the study field) were not significant predictors of their attitudes towards sexual assault (p < 0.05).Key words: sexual assault, sexual assault assessment.

Rape Reporting: “Classic Rape” and the Behavior of Law

Two theories of rape reporting, the Classic Rape perspective and Black’s Theory of the Behavior of Law, are tested in this article. We offer the first comprehensive multivariate test of Classic Rape predictions among a nationally representative sample of victims, as well as the first test of Black’s predictions for rape reporting. Through the construction of multinomial regression models, we are able to examine reporting patterns for both victims and third parties. Weapon use and physical injury consistently predicted reporting. The likelihood of victim reporting significantly increased when assaults occurred either in public or through a “home blitz,” whereas place of assault did not affect the likelihood of third-party reporting. On the other hand, victim–offender relationship significantly affected the likelihood of third-party reporting but was not significant in the victim-reporting models. There were mixed findings regarding Black’s stratification and morphology predictions, and we found no significant effects for culture, organization, or social control. Overall, these findings lend greater support to the Classic Rape perspective than to Black’s model.