Alleged Victim Research Articles

Epidemiological pattern of rape cases managed at a regional hospital in South Africa.

South Africa has one of the highest incidences of rape globally. Understanding the epidemiological pattern of rape is needed to inform the design of effective intervention programmes for rape prevention and management of alleged rape cases. To investigate important epidemiological patterns associated with rape in Kimberly, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. The Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Hospital (RMSH) forensic unit. A descriptive, retrospective cross-sectional clinical audit of rape cases. The majority (93.3%) of the alleged rape victims were women, with a mean age (SD) of 21.6 years (11.3); the male population made up 6.7% of the cases, with a mean age (SD) of 10.5 years (6.9). The highest incidence of alleged rape in the male population was seen in the age group ≤ 16 years (81.8%) and for women 17-30 years (50.3%). Most of the incidents occurred at the perpetrators' homes (42.7%); on the days Fridays (14.6%), Saturdays (29.9%) and Sundays (23.2%); at night up to midnight 20:00-23:59 (32.9%) (p = 0.01) and involved threats of violence (55.5%). The majority (56.0%) of the perpetrators were known to the victims. Important information about the victims and circumstances in which rape occurs as reported herein can be used to inform the design of effective intervention programmes for sexual crime prevention and management in Kimberly, South Africa. This study helped to advance knowledge and understanding of the epidemiological pattern associated with rape in Kimberley, Northern Cape Province of South Africa.

НОВЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К ПРИМЕНЕНИЮ СПЕЦИАЛЬНЫХ ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ЗНАНИЙ ПРИ РАССЛЕДОВАНИИ ПРЕСТУПЛЕНИЙ ПРОТИВ ПОЛОВОЙ НЕПРИКОСНОВЕННОСТИ, СОВЕРШЕННЫХ НЕСОВЕРШЕННОЛЕТНИМИ

The investigation of crimes against sexual integrity committed by minors is often difficult due to the lack of data other than the testimony of the accused and the alleged victim. The accusatory bias found in investigative practice also presents a significant problem in ensuring the objectivity of the investigation. The involvement of a psychologist with special knowledge to participate in investigative actions and judicial proceedings in various forms can optimize the investigative process and make a significant contribution to ensuring the objectivity of the assessment of testimony. In a number of countries, for example in Germany, the involvement of a forensic psychologist in cases of sexual crimes is an established practice that provides the court and the investigation with scientific knowledge about the degree of reliability or unreliability of the testimony of various participants in the criminal process.

GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI (2022): THE EMPOWERING RESISTANCE

The paper argues that we can view the filmic representation of Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) as a symbolic 'empowering resistance' to injustice in forced prostitution in Asia. The analysis relies on an empowering feminist point of view throughout an investigation of film elements of narration, language use (as translated into English), and symbolization. The paper demonstrates that the resistance is based on three reasons: (1) Depictions of traumatic realities in prostitution with four factors related to India's prostitution, (2) Representation of the objectification of female bodies observed through Catherine Barry's four stages of dehumanization in prostitution, and (3) Portrayal of Gangubai as a moral character, being a virtuous leader and mother figure, which contradicts her conceived social stigmas as a 'devalued prostitute' and the underworld 'Mafia Queen of Mumbai.' Adding to the study, the symbolic analysis reveals that the representation of the color 'white' signifies the character's morality and purity, highlighting her position as an alleged victim. Furthermore, the color endorses a resisting message against prejudice against women in prostitution. The study sheds light on the social conduct of female prostitution that traumatizes women. Most importantly, it offers an alternative interpretation of the representation of a prostitute character, not as a woman in vulnerability, but as a victorious powerful feminist figure.

Political orientation and moral judgment of sexual misconduct

In a series of studies in the U.S. (total N participants = 4,828) using both news articles (Studies 1-2) and constructed scenarios (Studies 3-4), we investigated how judgments of responsibility, blame, causal contribution, and punishment for alleged perpetrators and victims of sexual misconduct are influenced by (1) the political orientation of media outlets, (2) participants’ political orientation, and (3) the alleged perpetrators’ political orientation. Results indicated that participants’ political orientation, and the interaction between participants’ and alleged perpetrators’ political orientation, predicted moral judgments. Conservative participants were generally more likely inculpate and punish alleged victims in all four studies. Both conservative and liberal participants judged politically-aligned alleged perpetrators more leniently than politically-opposed alleged perpetrators. This political ingroup effect was ubiquitous across all tests of the dependent measures for conservative participants; whereas it was muted and unreliable for liberal participants. The findings collectively demonstrate that moral judgments about sexual misconduct are politicized at multiple psychological levels, and in ways that asymmetrically affect victims.

“Something has to change”

“Something has to change”

The Pattern of Alleged Rape Case in Dhaka City

Background: Rape is a common social problem having great implication on the Victim, family, Judiciary and state. However it is very difficult to prove the actual rape because it is difficult to establish whether it is a consented sex or actual rape. Objective: To assess the pattern of alleged rape case in Dhaka city. Method: 176 cases of alleged rape were studied during the period of 2019-2022 at the Tertiary hospital, Dhaka. Results: Of these, 130 cases had consented sexual intercourse. 46 victims were subjected to rape. Cases include different age groups, their occupations, living areas, time of arrival for medicolegal examination have been studied. Most of the cases were students. An alarming number of victims were subjected to gang rape. Examination and reporting of the cases with have been discussed. Conclusion: This study shows that only one fourth of the alleged rape victims are the real rape cases. The victims of other cases had consent to sexual intercourse. There were several victims below the age of consent who cannot give valid consent to sexual intercourse as per law.

The use of alternative scenarios in assessing the reliability of victims’ statements

ABSTRACT The use of alternative scenarios has been advocated as a method to mitigate bias when evaluating the reliability of testimonies. In two experiments, undergraduate students acted as expert witnesses when reading an alleged child sexual abuse case file and evaluated the reliability of the statements. In the first experiment, a subgroup of participants were encouraged to think about alternative scenarios (i.e. the statements are fabricated) when evaluating statements (N = 150). Contrary to our expectations, these participants were not more skeptical about the reliability of the alleged victim’s testimony than the control participants. In the second experiment (N = 205), we tested whether scenario-thinking protected against context effects (i.e. the unintended influence of irrelevant information) from a defense lawyer or prosecutor. We found no support that being sensitized to alternative scenarios made participants more skeptical of the reliability of testimonies. However, when we performed an internal joint analysis of Experiments 1 and 2, we did find some evidence that considering alternative scenarios made participants more skeptical of the suspect’s guilt than those in the control group. We discuss the use of alternative scenarios in expert witness work and potential ways to empirically test the alternative scenario approach in the future.

Objectiveness of The Alleged Victims as A Parameter for Law Enforcement in A Defamation Case

Activities in the complaints form from victims who feel libel by others have increased and occurred at all levels of the police in Indonesia. Everyone can feel offended by different insults, so the law enforcement of criminal offenses based on Article 310 paragraph (3) of the Criminal Code requires objectivity to accusations of defamation. The research points to a detriment as the basis for defamation, it is the concrete form of this detrimental requires further study as a manifestation of the substitute for defamation in the public interest. This article aims to validate the objectivity of the victim's alleged insult and defamation allegations. Article uses normative research type and conceptual approach with qualitative analysis. The defamation case regarding the meaning of the public interest. Justice is a baseline with the realization in concrete situations. The interest form of the community through the property by demanding actions that are proportional, appropriate, balanced, and in harmony with the rights of everyone. An emphasis on values prevailing in society (morals and customs). There are direct interests that are primarily economic. Then, the basis for filing a victim's complaint requires concrete evidence of the consequences of the alleged defamation, namely losses. Calculation of Losses. The specific requirement is that material or immaterial loss arise during the pre-contractual, contractual, and post-contractual periods. The complainant or victim must show the contract between the complainant and the offender.

Análise de fotos do sorriso postadas em redes sociais como alternativa para a identificação humana

ABSTRACT Photos of smiles posted on social media contain information on individuals’ anatomical and oral morphological characteristics, which can be important for ante and post-mortem human identification, during confrontation for forensic purposes. Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using smile photographs on social networks as a source of information for human forensic identification. Methods: The study sample consisted of forty individuals, randomly divided into four equal groups, two groups in Instagram (IG®) and two groups in Facebook (FB®). Standardized oral photographs of the anterior teeth of the participants, from three different angles (post-mortem photos) were taken using a Nikon® EOS 550D camera. Photos of smiles posted in FB and IG by the participants were also collected (ante-mortem photos). The analysis were carried out by 4 forensic experts, 18 dental professors, and 21 dental students. They compared simulated ante and post-mortem photos, to identify the alleged victims. Results: The correct identification score ranged from 28.6% (students) to 100% (forensic experts). The most frequently reported dental characteristics used for the identification were morphology of the anterior teeth, zenith, and gingival recessions. There was no statistically significant association between the rate of correct identification and the degree of difficulty reported during the analysis (p= 0,068), whereas there was also no association between this index and or the duration of the analysis (p=0,884). Conclusions: Therefore, the photographs of the smile posted on social media proved to be a database of dental information, and with potential to assist in identification with dental forensic purposes.

On shame and the perceived credibility of sexual assault allegations

AbstractDespite the high incidence of sexual assault, doubt about allegations is common. Previous research suggests that victims expressing positive or no emotion are perceived as less credible than those expressing negative emotions. However, little is known about which specific negative emotional expressions contribute to credibility in this context. In two studies (N = 623), participants read a date rape vignette. The alleged victim's statement was paired with a picture of a female person expressing either shame, sadness, or no emotion. Participants rated the credibility of her account and completed a measure of rape myth acceptance. Controlling for rape myth acceptance, allegations were perceived as more credible when accompanied by an expression of shame versus sadness (a negative, low arousal control condition). It is critical to be aware of the shame‐credibility bias in this context to intervene and support those who have experienced sexual assault.

Public Discourse and Public Policy on Foreign Interference in Higher Education

In recent years, news media have increased reporting about alleged foreign interference in universities worldwide. A flurry of new policies has followed. This article reviews discourse and policy on foreign interference in higher education in select countries. It identifies the alleged perpetrators and victims, the victims’ concerns and responses, and the voices shaping the narrative about foreign interference. We combine the concepts of sharp power and right-wing authoritarianism to inform a discourse analysis and comparative policy analysis of a data set of 161 news articles and related media sources spanning a 30-month period of 2019-2021. Our findings highlight how government actors within the United States and Australia drive the international English-language discourse about Chinese foreign interference in a polarized media environment. We observe well-founded fears of China’s exploitation of international students and research collaborations to the detriment of national security. At the same time, a resurgent worldwide authoritarian movement is also exploiting these concerns to augment long-standing assaults on higher education. Our study helps to bridge the gap between the primarily positive framing of the internationalization of higher education in scholarly discourse and the negative focus on foreign interference in higher education in the media, government, and other public discourse. It also serves as an important introduction to this phenomenon and call to action for scholars of the internationalization of higher education to conduct further research and actively engage in the broader discourse around this topic.

Framing of Reporting on Alleged Cases of Sexual Harassment at Universitas Riau in Media Cakaplah.com and Riauonline.co.id

The case of alleged sexual harassment at Universitas Riau emerged on November 4, 2021, after the alleged victim told the chronology through a 13-minute 26-second video. The video was uploaded to the Instagram account @komahi_ur. Cakaplah.com, and Riauonline.co.id were the two media that reported the most cases. Qualitative methods were used in this study using Framing Pan and Kosicki analysis. Later, the framing of the Cakaplah.com and Riauonline.co.id media to see the construction of the reality of an incident related to news of alleged sexual harassment at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Riau University would be discussed. The results showed that the syntactic structure in Cakaplah.com using titles tended to defend the whistleblower. The selection of sources did not lead to an effort to cover both sides, while Riauonline.co.id seemed inclined to support the reported party. In the script structure, Cakaplah.com emphasizes the "how" element, to explain that a complainant is a person who must be protected, while Riauonline.co.id emphasizes the what element, that until there is a court decision the reported person cannot be labelled as a suspect. The thematic structure found that the details used by Cakaplah.com seem to form a bad image of the reported party, while Riauonline.co.id tends to create a good image of the reported party. In rhetoric, the researcher sees Cakaplah.com using words that invite readers' empathy, such as obscenity, being molested, criminal, and others. Meanwhile, Riauonline.co.id chose words that seemed to see this case from the side of the reported person, such as accusations, objections, slander, and others.

La igualdad. Una visión desde los derechos del procesado y la víctima

Equality is the objective treatment that the parties to any legal proceeding deserve, especially in criminal proceedings. It implies that the same rights and obligations are recognised equally to all, without any distinction, but this principle is still an aspiration in judicial practice as it is not always guaranteed either in its doctrinal conception or in its legal conception, despite the positive evolution it has undergone. It is even more important in criminal proceedings, when the accused and the alleged victim are in conflict, and therefore its guarantee requires greater attention. In the Ecuadorian case, it is a principle conceived with constitutional and procedural rank, within the criminal sphere, however, its violation can be observed in several cases, which leads to the general objective of this work: to critically review the legal conception of equality as a principle in criminal matters, in the Ecuadorian constitutional and criminal procedural norms. A qualitative research approach is applied, based on scientific methods such as historical-logical, analytical-synthetic and inductive. This shows that the full conception of the principle of equality in criminal matters is insufficient in the Ecuadorian legal system

Human Identification by Comparative Analysis of Frontal Sinuses: Study on Computed Tomography

Generally, primary methods of identification as the fingerprint analysis, dental analysis or DNA examination are indicated for the establishment of the identity of a corpse. In situations with poor body conservation, such as in advanced stage of putrefaction or skeletonization, imaging exams like medical and dental computed tomography can assist in the process of identification. The frontal sinuses present anatomical characteristics that allow the establishment of the identity of an in dividual. In this case report we used the technique of three-dimensional construction of the frontal sinuses through the generation of solid figures representative of the sinus morphology. After the comparative analysis of the antemortem and postmortem tomography of the alleged victim, we could establish similarities in both the variations in size, shape, symmetry and contour of borders, and the presence and number of septa, allowing us to infer that the two images described belong to the same individual, thus establishing the identity of the corpse found.

Study on Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Alleged Sexual Assault Cases in Rajshahi District in 2020

Introduction: Rape is a neglected public health issue in Bangladesh. Here, the incidence of rape is reported almost every day. However, this study was designed to analyze and explore the statistics of alleged rape cases in the Rajshahi district in 2020.
 Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (DFMT), Rajshahi Medical College (RMC), Rajshahi, Bangladesh, from January 2020 to December 2020. A total of 101 study subjects were included in this study. The data were collected from the alleged rape victims who were sent to the DFMT for medico-legal examination. Informed written consent was signed, and a thumb impression was taken by the victim with her legal guardian when the apparent age of the victim was under 12 years status before data collection. This study explores age, marital status, the pattern of assailants, place of occurrence, religion, opinion based on a physical or genital examination, and corresponding police station with another expert investigative organization such as the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) of Rajshahi district.
 Results: Most of the victims were under 20 years old. Among all victims, 46.53% were unmarried, and 42.57% were married. In maximum cases, the victims were sexually assaulted by the known assailants. Almost two-thirds of alleged rapes occurred in the victim's house and the nearby place of the victim’s house. Only 11.88% of victims were examined with positive signs regarding sexual intercourse. Maximum victims (98.02%) were Muslim. Rape cases were frequent in Godagari, Belpukur, and Chndrima police stations.
 Conclusion: The findings of this study may work as baseline information and would be constructive in raising social awareness.
 TAJ 2022; 35: No-1: 45-50

Incidences of Minor Sexual Abuse in Sahibzada Ajit Singh (SAS) Nagar District, India: A Retrospective Study of 5 Years

Background: The incidences of child sexual abuse are increasing nowadays due to lack of awareness, child neglect,misuse of social sites, family violence, and much more. The present study aims to determine the socio-demographicprofile of past five-year cases of child sexual abuse of SAS Nagar district.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 114 cases of child sexual abuse registered under the POCSOAct, 2012. The period chosen was from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2017, located in the SAS Nagar District,Punjab. The data was collected through RTI from the SSP office of SAS Nagar. The details were pertaining tosocio-demographic parameters (age, sex, marital status, occupation, and profession), relationship with accused,place of incidence, the time interval between the date of incidence and date of reporting case noted in a selfdesignedPerforma.Results: There were a maximum number of child sexual abuse cases in 2017, 34 followed by 33 cases in 2015. Thecases of female sexual assaults (92.98%) outnumbered male sexual assaults (2.76%). The commonplace offense wasthe accuser’s house (22.80%). The most vulnerable age group was 11-15 years (46.49%). 51.75% of the alleged sexualassault victims were students. Unmarried victims were 97.36%. Most commonly, sexual crimes were committedby the person known to the victim (89.48%). Maximum numbers of cases were reported on the 2nd day of incidence(35.08%).Conclusion: Developing moral values and ethics among people in the transitional phase of cultural devaluationand organizing minor sexual assault prevention programs in ways that contribute to the community’s owncapacity to prevent this heinous crime is crucial as the biggest threat to the minors is not from the strangers butfrom the known and close ones.

Better the Devil you Know: The Myth of Harm and the Satanic Panic

The 1980s were a time of big hair, big cars, big phones, and big panics. Yet no panic has ever come close to the hysteria generated by the ‘Satanic Panic’. It was an episode which encompassed an entire decade, spilling into the 1990s as well as into further child-centric narratives of harm such as the 1980s video nasty controversy in the UK. Beginning with the McMartin preschool trial in California in 1983, the satanic panic was a fear that America, or at the very least its white suburban middle class, was under a subversive form of attack from satanic forces. In a perfect storm of disparate cultural elements, satanic panic gained momentum in the wake of the McMartin ritual abuse allegations. Not unsurprisingly, all claims were unfounded and eventually quashed, but not before the ritual abuse cases and their alleged victims were paraded in the news media. This was indeed a real-life horror story and throughout this article, by reading the panic as a Gothic tale of excess, I wish to introduce a liminal narrative composed of hysteria, lies and media sensationalism henceforth known as ‘the myth of harm’. A complex composite of various social narratives, the myth of harm functions as both a vehicle for the articulation of our fears, while simultaneously capable of mobilising and often weaponising them, especially when those fears are directed towards children.

Medicolegal Examination of an Alleged Rape Victim

Medicolegal Examination of an Alleged Rape Victim

Judge rules in favor of alleged victim

Case name: Doe v. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin, et al., No. 20‐cv‐856 (W.D. Wis. 11/03/21).

Police's and victim care officers' beliefs about memory and investigative interviewing with children: Survey findings from Malaysia

AbstractYears of psychological research has demonstrated that the use of investigative interviewing methods based on up‐to‐date scientific evidence is important to ensure the reliability of child witnesses' statements. Ideally, professionals working with children are equipped with knowledge of memory functioning, as erroneous beliefs may impact how they handle cases of alleged abuse. Fifty police officers and 23 victim care officers serving the Royal Malaysian Police completed a 20‐statement questionnaire assessing beliefs about memory functions and child investigative interviewing. The police sample also read a child sexual abuse case vignette and listed the questions they would ask the alleged victim in an investigative interview. Consistent with findings from other parts of the world, the beliefs of child protection professionals were not always in line with the latest memory research. Directive‐type questions were used more than option‐posing and suggestive questions. Findings are considered in relation to variations in culture and legal systems.