NCJ Number
205214
Journal
Criminal Justice Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2004 Pages: 29-59
Date Published
February 2004
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on police officers’ perceptions of the credibility of women rape complainants, using police officers’ files and case reports as primary data sources.
Abstract
This study used both quantitative and qualitative data drawn from detailed analyses of police rape and sexual assault files. Attention was paid to identification of the principal factors affecting police perceptions of rape complainants, addressing such issues as demeanor, intoxication, delayed reporting, previous complaint of rape, psychiatric disturbance, and concealment. It is concluded that issues of belief and credibility will remain vexed and contentious so long as investigative officers approach rape complainants with a prevailing mindset of suspicion and disbelief. Police suspiciousness regarding rape allegations originates within a social environment characterized by a history of distrust towards women, and is exacerbated within the masculine ethos of police organizations. Achieving significant reform in this area is unlikely while the broader social and political terrain affecting policing continues to be dominated by traditional thinking and sex-stereotypical assumptions. The crime-fighting and offender-oriented focus of policing has not served victims of crime well, with officers typically displaying minimal or flawed understanding of how and why rapes occur, or of the effects of rape on victims. Law reformers and those seeking improvements to rape trial processes need to be cognizant of the limited potential such initiatives have to effect change given the critical role of the police as a filtering mechanism. Many women will continue to refrain from reporting rape while some victims’ experiences continue to be erroneously viewed and dismissed as “beyond belief.” 1 table, 11 notes, 82 references