Citation

Franklin CA, Bouffard LA, Goodson A, Garza AD. Violence Against Women 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778012231197556

PMID

37709270

Abstract

This study examined the direct effect of "classic rape" characteristics, and how they were moderated by rape myth endorsement, on the likelihood of arrest, perceived district attorney charge acceptance, and perceived suspect conviction using a formal rape disclosure among a sample of 468 police participants from a sizeable municipal law enforcement agency in one of the fifth largest and most diverse U.S. cities. A randomly assigned, between-subjects factorial vignette design was employed. Manipulations included stereotypical trauma response, forensic medical exam, and perpetrator type. Path modeling revealed statistically significant relations between stereotypical trauma response, forensic medical exam, perpetrator type, and the three outcome variables. Rape myth endorsement moderated the effect of manipulations on the dependent variables. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Language: en

Keywords

sexual assault; forensic medical exam; police case processing; stranger–perpetrator; trauma response