Incidence Of Assault Research Articles

Creating Change in Intercollegiate Athletics: The Sexual Assault Prevention Paradigm for Athletic Departments

In 2011, the Office for Civil Rights issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” instructing universities to take action regarding sexual assault on college campuses. Specifically, universities must better educate students on the prevention of sexual assault, in the hope of reducing violence against women. Previous research is mixed on the involvement of intercollegiate student-athletes in incidences of sexual assault; however, recent high-profile cases of sexual misconduct at universities indicate that student-athletes are not immune to this issue. The purpose of this study was to explore how sexual assault is viewed within the culture of intercollegiate athletics, including education, occurrence, and prevention. Through interviews with former intercollegiate athletes, three main findings emerged: (1) Participant Knowledge, (2) Sexual Assault Within the Context of College Athletics; and (3) Creating Change in Athletic Department Culture. Using grounded theory, these themes were combined to create the Sexual Assault Prevention Paradigm for Athletic Departments.

Situational Contexts and Risk Factors Associated with Incapacitated and Nonincapacitated Sexual Assaults Among College Women.

Research has documented multilevel risk factors associated with experiencing incapacitated sexual assault among undergraduate women. Less is known about multilevel risk factors associated with nonincapacitated sexual assault. This study examines and compares the different settings, coercion methods, and relationships in which incapacitated and nonincapacitated sexual assaults occur among undergraduate women. Our sample included 253 undergraduate women who reported experiencing sexual assault during college on a population-based survey of randomly selected students at two colleges in New York City in 2016 (N = 1671, response rate = 67%). We examined event-level data on their most significant sexual assault incident since entering college. Using multivariable statistical analysis, we identified situational contexts associated with incapacitated and nonincapacitated assault incidents adjusting for binge drinking, illicit drug use, and other confounding sociodemographic and psychosocial variables. Almost half (47%) of women who experienced sexual assault reported being incapacitated due to alcohol or drugs during the most significant incident. Being at a party before the event and "acquaintance" perpetrators were associated with incapacitated sexual assault after adjusting for binge drinking and other confounders. Meeting a perpetrator through an Internet dating app or indicating the perpetrator was an intimate partner were each associated with nonincapacitated assault incidents. Perpetrator use of physical force and verbal coercion were also associated with nonincapacitated assault incident. The different situational contexts associated with incapacitated and nonincapacitated sexual assaults have important implications for the design of prevention strategies that will effectively target the diverse risk environments in which campus sexual assault occurs.

Drug use in street sex workers (DUSSK) study protocol: a feasibility and acceptability study of a complex intervention to reduce illicit drug use in drug-dependent female street sex workers

IntroductionPoor health of sex workers continues to be a source of international concern. Sex work is frequently linked with problematic drug use and drug-dependent sex workers typically work on the...

Youth Response to Rape: Rape Myths and Social Support.

Adolescents and young adults face the highest incidence of sexual assault, yet only limited research focuses on the experience of adolescent survivors, adolescent rape myth acceptance, or the ways youth respond to rape. Survivors tend to disclose to at least one person, typically peers, and the response, whether positive or negative, can impact well-being and help-seeking behaviors. Focus groups across Oregon, a leader in state-level comprehensive sexuality education policy, solicited high school-student reactions to an alcohol-involved rape scenario. These rich-case participants had taken comprehensive sexuality education classes and were affiliated with health and sexuality organizations. These youth were anticipated to showcase best possible outcomes resulting from current sexuality education practices. After hearing a hypothetical scenario involving a friend's experience with alcohol-involved sexual assault, participants were asked how they would respond. Participants spontaneously discussed whether the actions described constituted rape, often relying on victim-blaming rape myths as evidence. Alcohol use was a critical factor in interpretations. Female use increased her perceived culpability and male use decreased his. After assessing blame and whether the incident constituted rape, youth described three types of support (informational, instrumental or practical, and emotional support) they would offer as well as barriers when responding to the victim and intentions to hold victims accountable. These responses paint a concerning portrait of the ways youth make sense of sexual violence and consider responding to a friend's disclosure. Sexuality education policy mandates and intervention programs must target the problematic links between alcohol, rape, and rape myths while reinforcing non-victim-blaming support.

Parks, Playgrounds, and Incidents of Sexual Assault.

In the United States, certain laws restrict those convicted of sexually offending from accessing social spaces where youth congregate such as parks and playgrounds. However, empirical work to date has rarely described sexual assaults in these locations or tested the assumptions of these laws explicitly. To address these gaps in the literature, we drew on the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to analyze offender, victim, and crime characteristics of sexual assaults that occurred at parks and playgrounds over a 5-year period (2010-2015). Estimated via multivariate logistic regression, results showed support for these law's assumptions when analyzing this particular location. However, stranger perpetrators were significantly more likely to sexually assault adult victims versus youth victims. Several other offense features distinguished youth versus adult victim sexual assault incidents at parks and playgrounds, such as the offender age, the use of force, and the injuries sustained by the victim. Collectively, these findings both support and challenge these types of social space restriction laws.

Sexual Assault: A Crime of Power & Control. Medicolegal Study at Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Sexual Violence is one of the most common crimes across the globe changing the religious as well as cultural values. The incidence of sexual assault is increasing in the community and gained considerable importance being the important public health problem all over the world. Objectives: To study the socio-demographic profile & medico-legal consequences in the victims of alleged sexual assault brought for medicolegal certification at District Headquarter (Teaching) Hospital Sahiwal, Pakistan. Setting & Duration: Retrospective study was conducted in medicolegal clinic of DHQ Teaching Hospital, Sahiwal during the period from 1st January, 2016 to 31st December, 2016. Material & Methods: 125 cases of alleged sexual assault reported in medicolegal clinic of DHQ Hospital Sahiwal, during the calendar year 2016. The socio-demographic characteristics were studied in detail i.e. age, marital status, residential background. Associated physical injuries as well as perineal injuries observed on the body of victims were also considered. Results of the biological specimens / evidentiary material sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) were recorded on a Performa. Results: The incidence of sexual assault was higher 79(63.20%) in rural inhabitants as compared to 46(36.80%) in urban citizens. The most vulnerable age group was 11-20 years involving 57(45.60%) cases followed by those belonging to 3rd decade of life involving 37(29.60%) victims. Of the total 125 cases of alleged sexual assault, 74(59.20%) were married and 51(40.80%) unmarried. As regard injuries to the perineal areas; hymen was observed to have fresh injuries to the vulva & vagina in 7(5.60%) cases whereas old / healed tears of perineal area were found in remaining 118(94.40%) victims and there was no Virgo intact among all the cases of alleged sexual assault. Conclusion: The victims with age group of 11–20 years were the most commonly affected by sexual violence in Sahiwal & majority of them belonged to the rural areas. Rape and sexual assault are under-reported crimes in order to avoid the social stigma. A combined effort by law enforcing agencies, civil society & electronic / print media should be initiated to eliminate the ferocity of sexual crimes from community.

"A Person I Cared About Was Involved": Exploring Bystander Motivation to Help in Incidents of Potential Sexual Assault and Dating Violence.

The purpose of the present study was to examine what motivates college students to put themselves in harm's way and help their peers in risky situations involving sexual assault and dating violence. College students reported on the frequency of witnessing a wide range of potentially dangerous incidents, whether or not they intervened, why they chose to intervene, what their relationship was to the victim, and reactions to their intervention. A sample of 182 (59.5% female) college students (Mage = 19.3 years) participated. We coded and analyzed narrative responses to the question regarding what influenced their decision to get involved. For female students, relationship to the victim, and, for males, the severity of the situation, were key motivational factors for bystander involvement. Some students reported positive feelings while others reported negative feelings directly related to their involvement. Tapping into the motivations underlying college students' helping behavior will be particularly informative for those designing and implementing bystander intervention programs on college campuses. A better understanding of bystander behavior will not only improve bystander intervention programs but it will also put students in the best position to make informed and responsible choices when faced with a difficult situation.

She Said “Me, Too,” He Said “Not Me:” A Situationist Perspective on Sexual Harassment

Despite rising public awareness about sexual harassment, we lack a complete understanding of the etiology of harassment and its perpetuation in organizations. The papers in this symposium explore potential theoretical lenses through which to understand the phenomenon of sexual harassment. The first two papers consider how different forms of hierarchy can contribute to harassment. Williams, Gruenfeld, and Guillory contend that the effects of power on harassment can be best understood by separating chronic and acute power. Similarly, Ruttan and Fincher look at how indirect (rather than direct) hierarchies may increase the likelihood of harassment because of attributional ambiguities. The final two papers examine how perceivers’ values and judgment biases may allow harassment to persist in society. Rees, Diekmann, and Tenbrunsel (2017) draw on the phenomenon of motivated blindness–defined as individuals’ tendency to not see unethical behavior of others when it is not in their best interest to do so (Bazerman & Tenbrunsel, 2011)–to explain why victims and observers may not recognize (and thereby not report) the harassment they experience or observe. Finally, Niemi and Young examine the phenomenon of victim blaming, and demonstrate that both participants’ moral values and the way incidents of sexual assault are framed in narratives are consequential to the judgment of victims. Together, these papers point to a social psychological framework for the study of sexual harassment, in which both situational and person factors contribute. The implications of a person by situation framework for organizational interventions will be discussed. Predicting Sexual Harassment among Leaders: The Paradoxical Role of Chronic Powerlessness Presenter: Melissa J. Williams; Emory U. Presenter: Deborah Gruenfeld; Stanford U. Presenter: Lucia Elizabeth Guillory; Yahoo, Inc. Informal Power Predicts Sexual Harassment Through Attributional Ambiguities Presenter: Rachel Lise Ruttan; Rotman School of Management Presenter: Katrina M. Fincher; Columbia Business School Motivated Blindness: A Bounded Ethicality Perspective of Sexual Harassment Presenter: McKenzie Rees; Southern Methodist U. Presenter: Kristina Diekmann; U. of Utah Presenter: Ann Tenbrunsel; U. of Notre Dame The Role of Moral Commitments and Narrative Framing in Attitudes Toward Victims Presenter: Laura Niemi; Duke / U. of Toronto

An Interdisciplinary Clinical Approach for Workplace Violence Prevention and Injury Reduction in the General Hospital Setting: S.A.F.E. Response.

BACKGROUND: Workplace violence is a major public health concern. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2002 to 2013, incidents of serious workplace violence (those requiring days off) were four times more common in health care than in private industry. AIMS: An interprofessional committee developed, implemented, and evaluated a quality improvement project from 2012 to 2016 to reduce workplace violence and prevent staff injury. The initiative termed S.A.F.E. Response stands for Spot a threat, Assess the risk, Formulate a safe response, Evaluate the outcome. METHOD: An institutional review board-approved quality improvement survey was implemented and evaluated. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. An interprofessional committee developed and implemented a comprehensive program to prevent injury, which included (a) a mandatory eLearning educational training, (b) a S.A.F.E. Response with standardized interventions for the clinical conditions affecting safety, and (c) a clinical debriefing process. A reduction in nursing staff assault incidence rates was identified as a success. RESULTS: Nursing staff injury rates decreased an average of 40%. CONCLUSIONS: A reduction in nursing staff assault incidence rates was notable. Clinicians equipped with knowledge, skills, and resources can identify and defuse unsafe situations to prevent violence. This clinical approach shifts the focus from crisis intervention to crisis prevention, which reduces injury.

The Neighborhood Impacts of Local Infrastructure Investment: Evidence from Urban Mexico

This paper reports on the results of a large infrastructure investment experiment in which $68 million in spending was randomly allocated across a set of low-income urban neighborhoods in Mexico. We show that the program resulted in substantial improvements in access to infrastructure and increases in private investment in housing. While a pre-committed index of social capital did not improve, we find an apparent decrease in the incidence of personal assault and teen misbehavior in neighborhoods where investments were made. The program increased the aggregate real estate value in program neighborhoods by two dollars for every dollar invested. (JEL H76, O18, R23, R31, R53, Z13)

Alcohol Use and Sexual and Physical Assault Victimization Among University Students: Three Years of Follow-Up.

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of sexual and physical assault among university students and its association with alcohol use. The research is part of a wider cohort study (Spit for ScienceTM) at a large public university in the United States. The follow-up data include the first two cohorts (2011, 2012; n = 5,170). The dependent variables were victim of sexual assault and victim of physical assault. The independent variables were alcohol dependence and abuse according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.), cannabis use, residence, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and previous experience of sexual assault and/or physical assault. We used multilevel logistic regression for repeated measures. All data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. Incidence rates of sexual and physical assault (per 100 students a year) were 15.1 and 27.6 among nonabusers/dependents versus 36.4 and 56.7 among alcohol-dependent females at the first year, and 2.8 and 4.7 versus 7.7 and 23.1 at the third year; while in males, incident rates were 6.0 and 3.1 versus 18.5 and 66.6, and 2.3 and 7.4 versus 18.9 and 15.1, respectively. Our results show that alcohol abuse and dependence constitute risk factors to be victim of sexual assault in males (odds ratio [OR] = 2.21 and OR = 2.73) and alcohol dependence in females (OR = 2.16). Similarly, alcohol abuse and dependence are risk factors to physical assault among both males (OR = 1.52 and OR = 2.03) and females (OR = 1.70 and OR = 2.88). Ethnicity, sexual orientation, and whether the individual had been victimized in the past were associated with sexual assault. Regarding physical assault, cannabis use and past victimization are also risk factors. Our study has shown that assault victimization is strongly related to alcohol abuse and dependence diagnoses in both genders. Ethnicity and sexual orientation are also associated to both assaults. Our results show that incidence rates of both types of assaults were clearly higher in the first 6 months of university, probably explained by the novel and potentially risky environment.

The Prevalence and Co-Occurrence of the Forms of Violence Against Women

ABSTRACTTo examine the relative risk of the multiple forms of violence against women as well as the incidence and co-occurrence rates of self-reported childhood sexual assault (CSA), childhood physical assault (CPA), intimate partner violence (IPV), and witnessing family violence. The sample included 1,069 female undergraduates who completed measures of childhood trauma exposure (CPA, CSA, and exposure to family violence) and IPV victimization. Fifty-four percent of women in the sample experienced one or more forms of violence. Nearly 30% of participants reported IPV, 23% reported witnessing violence as a child, 13% reported experiencing CPA, and 11% reported experiencing CSA. Regarding co-occurrence, 31% experienced only one form of violence, 16% reported two forms, 6% reported three forms, and just over 1% of the sample reported experiencing all four forms of violence. For all forms of violence, the relative risk of experiencing another form of violence was significant at p < .0001, with witnessing violence and CPA being associated with the highest risks. This study highlights the importance of more carefully describing the violence experiences of participants used in violence research and accounting for poly-victimization in explanatory models of these forms of aggression and abuse.

Risk Terrain Modeling and Socio-Economic Stratification: Identifying Risky Places for Violent Crime Victimization in Bogotá, Colombia

This research focused on the effect of the built environment on Bogota’s violent crime by using the Risk Terrain Modeling (RTM) technique. The current study used 17 ecological variables, including micro-level data on the spatial distribution of socio-economic strata, and the location of an array of businesses and other features of the landscape. As suggested by the results of this study, the spatial distribution of violent crime in Bogota is highly correlated with the allocation of socio-economic strata throughout its geography. A statistically valid RTM analysis identified the micro-level risk factors associated with three types of violent crime incidents, namely homicide, assault, and theft incidents. These results suggest that future violent crime incidents are more likely to occur at a reduced number of high-risk micro-places. Moreover, while homicide and assault incidents were more likely to cluster within the poorest areas of the city, theft incidents presented a higher risk of victimization near the city center, where economic activity and suitable targets concentrate. This study offers a unique account regarding the effect of socio-economic segregation on violent crime victimization across Bogota’s geography and within different socio-economic strata classifications.

Latent Sexism in Print Ads Increases Acceptance of Sexual Assault

In addition to the more obvious forms of sexism in advertising, media critics and scholars raise concerns about various forms of nonobvious, or latent, sexism (e.g., “dismembered” body parts; makeup possibly resembling a bruise; women in potentially dangerous locations; bodies decorated as products). There is, however, no evidence that the public considers these ads sexist or is affected by them. To determine whether ads promote sexism even if the content is not identified as sexist, participants were exposed to ads containing no sexism, overt sexism, or latent sexism (i.e., content considered sexist by media experts, but not identified as sexist by a lay sample) and then read two vignettes describing incidents of sexual assault and sexual coercion. Participants exposed to ads with latent sexism showed greater acceptance of the sexual assault than did those in the no sexism ad condition and in the overt sexism ad condition. Regarding the sexual coercion vignette, latent sexism did not have the same effects; instead, participants exposed to ads with overt sexism were less likely to minimize the seriousness of the incident than participants in the other ad conditions. Therefore, acceptance of sexual assault can be increased by sexist content in ads even if the content is not identified as sexist. In fact, the evidence suggests that the types of latent sexism in this study produce more deleterious effects than sexism that is easily recognized.

“My blessed child does not need to know about that!”: How should sexual health educators confront the challenge of religious pluralism in working with individuals who have intellectual disabilities?

Summary In a recent series for National Public Radio in the United States, Joseph Shapiro exposes an undiscussed epidemic of sexual assault among those with intellectual disabilities. U.S. Department of Justice data indicates that people with intellectual disabilities are assaulted over seven times the national average. Although international data is sparse, similar patterns exist in other countries. Shapiro argues that comprehensive sexuality education is key to lowering the incidence of sexual assault among those with intellectual disabilities. However, in my experience as a sexuality educator, guardians and care providers of those with intellectual disabilities sometimes consider these individuals to be “blessed children” – people whose child-like innocence must be protected at all costs. As a result, people with intellectual disabilities are often asexualized. This, taken together with Shapiro's argument, leaves open an important question: how should sexual health educators confront the challenge of religious pluralism in working with individuals who have intellectual disabilities? I argue that sexual health educators should frame this work as a matter of civil rights in order to accommodate religious pluralism. I contend that if guardians and others who care for people with intellectual disabilities are genuinely committed to protecting their civil rights, they should also take an interest in their sexuality education if it is framed as a civil rights issue. Sexual health educators have an obligation to ensure that guardians and others who care for people with intellectual disabilities do not overlook sexuality in providing care or advocating for an individual with an intellectual disability.

An exploration of psychological and physical injury schemas in civil cases

SummaryCivil plaintiffs often seek compensation for their psychological injuries. Yet little is known about jurors' preconceived notions (or schemas) for a prospective plaintiff's pain and suffering. The present studies examined (a) whether jurors have psychological injury schemas (Studies 1 and 2), (b) whether their existence and development vary by the type of civil case (Studies 1 and 2) or its severity (Study 2), and (c) how psychological injury schemas compare with physical injury schemas on a number of theoretically and legally relevant judgments (e.g., injury severity, availability, and plaintiff credibility; Study 2). Study 1 (N = 233) presented undergraduate mock jurors with 2 negligence incidents (car accident and slip and fall) and 2 intentional tort incidents (sexual assault and kidnapping) and asked them to report the typical incident and injuries that would result from the defendant's conduct. Results supported the sparse existence of psychological injury schemas but found that they were more developed in the kidnapping and sexual assault incidents than in the car accident and slip and fall incidents. Study 2 (N = 288) additionally manipulated incident schema severity (mild vs. severe) while having participants separately report and rate their psychological and physical injury schemas on judgments of legal and theoretical interest. Results indicated that although mock jurors' psychological injury schemas contained fewer injuries than their physical injury schemas, the reported psychological injuries were rated as more severe than physical injuries. We discuss how schemas may underlie the disparate treatment of psychological and physical injuries by legal decision‐makers.

EFFECT OF PEER EDUCATION MODEL ON KNOWLEDGE AND SELF-EFFICACY OF CHILDREN IN THE PREVENTION OF PHYSICAL SEXUAL VIOLENCE

Background: The rate of incidence of physical assault on school children increases from year to year. Efforts to prevent child sexual violence can be done through school-based education with student empowerment.&#x0D; Objective: To identify the effect of education by peers on the knowledge and self-efficacy of primary school children in preventing sexual violence in Grabag sub-district, Magelang regency, Indonesia.&#x0D; Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest and posttest non-equivalent control groups. A total of 84 school-aged children were purposively recruited from two different primary schools. Each group consisted of 42 respondents. Children's Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire-Revised III (CKAQ-RIII) instrument was used to measure knowledge and self-efficacy questionnaire was measured for self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon and Chi-Square test.&#x0D; Results: The study showed that a statistically significant difference in the variables of both knowledge (p=0.008) and self-efficacy (p=0.000) in the intervention group after given peer education treatment.&#x0D; Conclusion: Educational interventions by peers can improve the knowledge and self-efficacy of primary school-aged children in preventing sexual violence. Peer education can be used as an effort to prevent sexual violence in children through school empowerment programs.

Correction: Sexual assault incidents among college undergraduates: Prevalence and factors associated with risk.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186471.].

An Examination of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence: Comparing Marital and Nonmarital Incidents Employing NIBRS Data, 2008–2012

Marital rape first appeared in a peer-reviewed publication in 1977 (Gelles, 1977), was first prosecuted as a crime in 1978, but took another two decades to be recognized as a crime across the United States. Marital rape is an underreported social problem occurring twice as frequently as media-saturated stranger rape (Russell, 1990). The present study draws on 5 years of National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data (2008–2012) to provide baseline information on reported male-to-female marital sexual intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to nonmarital sexual IPV. Findings reveal, in part, that husbands as perpetrators, and wives as victims, are significantly older than non-married sexual IPV offenders and victims. Married offenders are more likely to be White, and dating offenders Black. Injuries are significantly more likely if the victim and offender are married, with marital sexual IPV cases more likely to include sexual penetration, including higher incidence of rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object.

Unreadable and Underreported: Can College Students Comprehend How to Report Sexual Assault?

Unreadable and Underreported:Can College Students Comprehend How to Report Sexual Assault? Zachary W. Taylor (bio) Title IX's Clery Act (1986) requires postsecondary institutions receiving Title IV funds to "disclose accurate and complete crime statistics for incidents that are reported to Campus Security Authorities (CSAs) and local law enforcement as having occurred on or near the campus" (White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault, 2014, para.4). Included in this mandated crime reporting is the incidence of sexual assault on or near campus; however, institutions adhering to the Clery Act can only report crimes that are reported to them: as recently as 2006, nearly 80% of all 2-year and 4-year institutions in the United States did not report a single sexual offense (Lombardi & Jones, 2015). This apparent absence of sexual assault on campus simply does not represent the lived experiences of college students. Longitudinal research has suggested that sexual assault on college campuses is widespread and grossly underreported (Lombardi & Jones, 2015). In their seminal study of sexual assault on 32 college campuses, Koss, Gidycz, and Wisniewski (1985) found that 54% of undergraduate women and 26% [End Page 248] of undergraduate men experienced sexual aggression or victimization during college. Over 30 years later, Krebs, Lindquist, Berzovsky, Shook-Sa, and Peterson (2016) found that 21% of all female students experienced sexual assault during their undergraduate careers and 13% were raped by the time they graduated. More troubling, recent research demonstrates more than 90% of all sexual assault victims on a college campus—students who identify with any gender identity and/or sexual orientation—do not report the crime (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2015). In no uncertain terms, sexual assault and the underreporting of sexual assault on campus are troubling problems for students, faculty, student affairs professionals, and others working with college students. To curb the problem of underreporting, numerous lawmaking bodies have attempted to remove barriers to reporting sexual assault on college campuses. In 2013, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which expanded the definitions of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and included them in Clery Act reporting requirements. In 2016, the state of Wisconsin passed legislation—Assembly Bill 808—prohibiting victims of sexual assault from being fined for underage drinking, in hopes that college students would be more willing to come forward and report a crime on campus. Educational researchers have advocated for improving physical and mental health services to boost disclosure of sexual assault (Sabina & Ho, 2014), intersectionality counseling to promote sexual assault prevention and reporting (Coulter et al., 2017), and institutional use of longitudinal prevention and research models to inform new sexual assault reporting policies and procedures (Banyard, 2014). To date, scholars have not examined a seemingly commonsense aspect of sexual assault reporting: the readability of the reporting instructions themselves; therefore, in this study I examined the readability—using four commonly used measures—of sexual assault reporting instructions of 100 four-year institutions in the United States to answer this research question: Can college students of average reading comprehension ability read and comprehend sexual assault reporting instructions? METHOD In this project I employed a rarely used method in higher education research: an analysis of textual readability. The sample, data, and procedures for this study are detailed below. Sample The population of interest for this study is all 4-year public and private nonprofit colleges and universities, representing a sampling frame of 2,386 institutions in the United States. This population was identified as being relevant to the study of sexual assault reporting instructions, as these institutions often have large percentages of students living on or near campus and these institutions deliver predominantly face-to-face education instead of online education. A sample size of 100 institutions was established, given the time necessary to locate each institution's sexual assault reporting instructions, extract the text therein, and calculate four readability measures per set of instructions. To reduce bias and increase generalizability, I used a simple random sampling technique. Once I identified all 2,386 institutions using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, I sorted each institution alphabetically by name and assigned each institution a number. I then used a...