Sexual Assault Case Processing Research Articles

Use of Forensic Science in Investigating Crimes of Sexual Violence

This article contrasts the theoretical potential of modern forensic science techniques in the investigation of sexual violence cases with empirical research that has assessed the role played by scientific evidence in the criminal justice processing of sexual assault cases. First, the potential of forensic scientific procedures (including DNA testing) are outlined and the sexual assault literature that examines the importance of physical and forensic evidence in resolving such cases is reviewed. Then, empirical data from a recent National Institute of Justice (NIJ) study of 602 rapes are presented that describe the forensic evidence collected and examined in such cases and its impact on decisions to arrest, prosecute, adjudicate, and sentence defendants. The article closes with a discussion of research and policy recommendations to enhance the role played by forensic science evidence in sexual assault investigations.

The Criminal Justice System’s Response to Sexual Violence

The legal reforms of the 1960s and 1970s notwithstanding, sexual assault is a crime characterized by underreporting and case attrition. In this article, the authors synthesize research examining the criminal justice system's response to sexual assault. The authors begin by examining research on the victim's decision to report the crime to the police. This is followed by a discussion of the findings of sexual assault case processing research, with a focus on the criminal justice system's response to aggravated and simple rape and to intimate partner sexual violence. The authors end the article with a discussion of questions that research has yet to adequately answer.

Examining Charging Agreement Between Police and Prosecutors in Rape Cases

Although prior research has contributed to understanding of the factors that influence sexual assault case processing, it has primarily been viewed through the prosecutorial lens. The authors assert that a prosecutor’s charging decision involves not only a decision to file or reject the charge but, assuming that the case is not rejected, also a decision regarding the charge that should be filed. Accordingly, they examined the congruence between the charge filed by police at arrest with the charge filed by the prosecutor. The results indicate that charging agreement between police and prosecutors in rape cases is governed by a legal sufficiency framework in Philadelphia, where a specialized charging unit receives cases after decisions to charge have been made, and a trial sufficiency framework in Kansas City, Missouri, where a specialized unit makes the decision to charge and uses vertical prosecution from screening through disposition.

Prosecutorial Justifications for Sexual Assault Case Rejection: Guarding the "Gateway to Justice"

The decision to charge is a critical stage in the processing of sexual assault cases, as many cases do not proceed beyond this stage. Frohmann (1991) examined prosecutorial justifications for case rejection and concluded that prosecutors construct typifications of credible victims and rape relevant behavior in deciding whether to file charges in sexual assault cases. We use data on 1997 sexual battery cases cleared by arrest in Miami, Florida, as well as information gleaned from interviews with a sample of the attorneys who handled these cases, to replicate and extend Frohmann's work. Although our findings are consistent with Frohmann's assertion that charging decisions primarily reflect the prosecutor's assessment of the likelihood of conviction, they also suggest that this assessment is based on factors other than typifications of rape and rape victims. In a substantial number of the cases examined for this study, the decision to reject charges could be traced to the victim's failure to appear for a prefile interview, refusal to cooperate in the prosecution of the case, or admission that the charges were fabricated. We also found that the decision to file charges was based on a combination of case and victim characteristics, but that cases involving a victim and suspect who were acquainted, related, or intimate partners were more likely than those involving a victim and suspect who were strangers to be prosecuted. We conclude that prosecutors' charging decisions are guided by a set of “focal concerns” (Steffensmeier, et al. 1998) that revolve around reducing uncertainty and securing convictions and that incorporate beliefs about real rapes and legitimate victims.

The Impact of Law Reform on the Processing of Sexual Assault Cases*

Cet article présente les résultats d'une étude qui avait pour but de mesurer les repercussions de la loi C‐127 sur la manière de procéder de l'appareil policier et judiciaire de Winnipeg dans les cas de violence sexuelle. La nouvelle loi ayant comme objectif de corriger certaines failles dans la procédure juridictionnelle, les auteurs ont opté pour l'analyse de régression logistique afin d'examiner les conséquences de plusieurs variables indépendantes sur le nombre des inculpations et des condamnations, et ce avant et après l'adoption de la loi. Cette méthode nous a permis de déterminer si la réforme de la loi sur le viol a conduit à des changements dans la manière dont ces variables indépendantes influent sur les inculpations et condamnations. La recherche tend à démontrer que la réforme n'a eu qu'un effet modéré sur l'examen des cas de violence sexuelle.This paper presents the results of an evaluation of the impact of Bill C‐127 on the processing of sexual assault cases through the criminal justice system in Winnipeg. Because the law was intended to change the way in which sexual assault cases were treated by the courts, the authors employed logistic regression to examine the impact of several independent variables on charges and convictions before and after the new legislation. Logistic regression made it possible to determine whether the rape reform legislation led to changes in the way these independent variables affect charge and conviction. The research suggests the legislative reform has had only a modest impact on the treatment of sexual assault cases.

The effect of offender and victim characteristics on sexual assault case processing decisions

Previous research testing the sexual stratification hypothesis has demonstrated that the defendant's race interacts with the victim's race to produce harsher sentences for blacks who sexually assault whites. Research also has demonstrated that victim characteristics affect outcomes of sexual assault cases. We use data on defendants bound over for trial in Detroit Recorder's Court to build on and extend this research. We examine the effect of the racial makeup of the offender/victim pair on a series of sexual assault case outcomes, and we test for interaction between offender/victim race, the relationship between the victim and the offender, and evidence of risk-taking behavior by the victim. Our results show that sexual assaults involving black men and white women are not always treated more harshly than other types of assaults. We conclude that the sexual stratification hypothesis must be modified to account for the role of factors other than the racial composition of the offender/victim pair.

The genuine victim and prosecutors’ charging decisions in sexual assault cases

This study examined the effect of victim characteristics and evidence factors on prosecutors’ decisions to file charges in sexual assault cases. Social scientists and legal scholars argue that sexual assault case processing decisions are affected by stereotypes of real rapes and genuine victims. They assert that complainants whose backgrounds and behavior conform to the image of a genuine victim will be taken more seriously, and their allegations treated more seriously, than complainants whose backgrounds and behavior are at odds with this image. We used a sample of arrests for sexual assault made by the Detroit Police Department in 1989 to test these assertions. We combined six victim characteristics to create a genuine victim scale, and we examined the effect of this scale, as well as a number of evidence factors, on prosecutors’ charging decisions. We performed separate analyses on cases with child victims and cases with adolescent or adult victims. We found that the genuine victim scale did not influence charging decisions in cases with child victims, but was theonly significant predictor in cases involving adolescent or adult victims. In contrast, none of the four evidence factors affected charging in cases with adult victims, and only one of these factors was related to charging in cases involving children. These findings suggest that prosecutors attempt to avoid uncertainty by screening out sexual assault cases unlikely to result in a conviction because of questions about the victim’s character, the victim’s behavior, and the victim’s credibility.

Sexual assault cases in the legal system: Police, prosecutor, and victim perspectives.

The purposes of this study were to assess (a) the extent of attrition in the processing of sexual assault cases in the legal systems, (b) factors associated with attrition at various stages in the process, and (c) victims' experiences in the legal system and the relations between these experiences and recovery. Our results suggest that substantial attrition continues to occur in the prosecution of rape cases, that more severe assaults are prosecuted more vigorously, that victims are generally satisfied with the police (but not with the legal system in general), and that neither attitudes nor case outcomes are associated with victims' postrape recovery. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Case processing in the Harris county, Texas criminal justice system: A comparison across crime types

This study tested the hypothesis that when the criminal justice system is working under a “limited capacity to punish,” the processing of some types of crimes might be emphasized over the processing of other types. This hypothesis was tested through a comparison of the processing of sexual assault cases with the processing of robbery and aggravated assault over the period 1980–1988 in Harris County, Texas. Prison use was found to increase for aggravated assault and for sexual assault of both children and adults while for robbery the use of prison decreased slightly. Jail usage increased for aggravated assault and robbery while it decreased for sexual assault cases. Prison sentence lengths also tended to increase except for cases of aggravated assault. These trends seem to suggest that sexual assault cases are not dismissed during times of a limited capacity to punish. However, there was some evidence that at earlier points of processing there was a reluctance to prosecute cases of sexual assault of an adult. Thus, it is premature to conclude that in times of a limited capacity to punish, the prosecution of violent crimes committed against women might be deemphasized to make space for cases more likely to end in conviction. Rather, criminal case processing includes more complexities than can be captured simply through an examination of the likelihood of conviction.

Factors Affecting the Disposition of Sexual Assault Cases Before and After a Change in Sexual Assault Laws

Abstract: Bill C-127, An Act to amend the Criminal Code in relation to Sexual Offenses and other Offenses Against the Person, was proclaimed by Parliament on January 4, 1983. An evaluation was conducted in six Canadian cities to determine the impact of the new law. This article describes the findings from one site — Winnipeg, Manitoba — and centers on the processing of sexual assault cases as they proceed through the criminal justice system. Files from the police, Crown, courts, and Sexual Assault Centre were used to obtain study information. A pre-reform/post-reform comparison was conducted to analyze the extent to which changes could be attributed to the legislation. Although results of the evaluation indicate no difference in conviction rates that can be attributed to the legislation, there are changes in the types of cases prosecuted.

Official Reactions to Social Problems: Police Decisions in Sexual Assault Cases

Responsibility for arrest and charging makes police influential agents in the offical processing of sexual-assault cases. Recent research offers three competing models of police decisions: the legal model suggests that police do not discriminate between victims on the basis of extralegal attributes; the extralegal model suggests that police do discriminate; and the change model suggests that reliance on extralegal determinants declines with growing awareness of rape as a social problem. These models were tested on 905 sexual-assault complaints to police in a large, midwestern city over six years. The data showed that the most important determinants of arrest, charge seriousness and felony screening were legal. Suspects received more serious outcomes when: (1) the victim was able to identify a suspect, (2) the victim was willing to testify, (3) the incident included sexual penetration, (4) charges were more serious, and (5) the incident included a weapon. Extralegal variables had less effect than legal variables on all three police decisions. Also, reorganization of the police department did not change arrest and felony filing rates or, for the most part, criteria used for making processing decisions.