RT Article
T1 Supporting Victims of Sexual Assault: The Effect of “Real Rape Mythology” and “Worthy Victim” Stereotypes on Police Decisions Regarding Service Referral and Advocate Involvement in Sexual Assault Cases
JF Crime & delinquency
VO 70
IS 13/14
SP 3658
OP 3687
A1 Goodson, Amanda
A2 Franklin, Cortney A.
A2 Garza, Alondra D.
A2 Bouffard, Leana A.
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1910911860
AB Police undertake a range of decisions following a sexual assault disclosure. Research has not examined the decision to provide service referral information or engage a victim advocate during the formal response. This study used a purposive sample of 436 sexual assault police case files from a large, urban agency to understand how “real rape” mythology and “worthy victim” schemata affected these decisions. Three multivariate binary logistic regression models revealed that visible victim injury and case classifications of family violence increased responding officer service referral. Investigator service referral decreased when victims were women of Color but increased when cases had greater evidentiary strength. Increased victim resistance strategies, training, and investigator service referral increased advocate involvement. Implications and future research are discussed.
K1 victim advocacy
K1 service referral
K1 “real rape” mythology
K1 Sexual Assault
K1 Police officers
DO 10.1177/00111287241252365