Rape Stereotypes and Myths and their Psycho-legal Consequences

Abstract

With their book Sexual Assault and the Justice Gap: A Question of Attitude, Jennifer Temkin and Barbara Krahe make a significant contribution to our understanding of sexual violence, the myths and stereotypes surrounding it, and their harmful effects on judgments of assault victims. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the authors integrate the social psychological and the legal perspective in an attempt to explain the “justice gap” in contemporary jurisdiction. The “justice gap” is characterized as the imbalance between reporting and conviction rates in rape cases. To explain this phenomenon, Temkin and Krahe address multiple factors, with particular emphasis on rapesupportive attitudes and beliefs. Broadly, the book is organized into three parts with 11 chapters in total. The first part of the book reviews empirical evidence on the scope of the justice gap and underscores that judgments of guilt and blame in cases of sexual assault are often far from being purely evidencebased. Instead, the reader learns about the detrimental impact of rape-supporting attitudes and cognitive fallacies that result in biased judgments of assault victims. The authors illustrate this by providing empirical support from studies that have been conducted not only in Germany and the UK, but also in other countries (e.g., the US). In Part two of the book, the authors present and discuss recent empirical evidence from their own research that has been conducted in England. Finally, Part three provides an overview of strategies to narrow the justice gap, e.g., by means of introducing law reforms or guidelines for and screening of legal personnel, by implementing school-based interventions or running mass media campaigns. A concluding chapter summarizes the key messages of the book. Though difficult fare, Temkin and Krahe present a wellwritten and clearly structured book that will not only spark the interest of scholars and professionals. Each chapter of Sexual Assault and the Justice Gap: A Question of Attitude begins with a short introductory paragraph and concludes with a brief summary of the chapter’s key message. The book represents an excellent resource for an audience with a background in psychology or law and is also suitable for graduate students of these areas. Temkin and Krahe’s book would nicely complement a graduate course’s core textbook, particularly because of the dual perspective it provides. Because of the topic’s social and political relevance, the book might also prove a valuable compendium for criminal justice practitioners. In their description of legal materials and statistical results, the authors clearly consider the needs of readers from diverging academic backgrounds. For instance, when reporting their own empirical research, Temkin and Krahe present qualitative and quantitative data in a comprehensible way. The authors do not overload the reader with statistics; rather, those who wish to obtain more information regarding statistical results may consult the footnotes. As a social psychologist, I sometimes had trouble relating to all details concerning the legal perspective. On the other hand, the volume is unique in its interdisciplinary endeavor to shed light on legal and psychological factors involved in the decision process in rape cases. The book is vital even for an audience beyond the domains of psychology and law, not only because it educates readers about stereotypical attitudes and myths Sex Roles (2009) 61:589–591 DOI 10.1007/s11199-009-9662-0