Victim Resistance Research Articles

The Role of Resistance and Emotionality in Sexual Assault Trials

Women’s behaviour during and after a sexual assault is often considered as an indicator of whether they are genuine victims. The current study explores the influence of victim resistance and victim emotionality on juror decision-making to determine if such stereotypes influence perceptions of sexual assault. Participants (n = 210) were assigned to one of four conditions where victim resistance (high vs low) and victim emotionality (high vs low) were manipulated. Results showed that victim resistance had a significant effect on juror judgments. In the high resistance conditions, more guilty verdicts were chosen and victims were perceived as more credible, less blameworthy, and less demonstrative of consent. Participant gender also had a significant influence on juror judgments. Meanwhile, emotionality only influenced some judgments, namely victim stereotypicality and chosen verdict. These findings demonstrate the need for education to challenge persisting rape myths that harm sexual assault victims and court proceedings.

Resignification of experiences of the victims of the conflict in the municipality of Policarpa, Nariño as a contribution to the reconstruction of the social fabric

El presente artículo se construye a partir de la experiencia y trabajo en territorio, y se complementa con la asignatura de Sistematización de diálogos y experiencias del conflicto armado de la Maestría en Derechos Humanos, Gestión de la Transición y el Posconflicto, lo que permite identificar el proceso de implementación de la política pública de víctimas en el municipio de Policarpa, departamento de Nariño con el fin de conocer los retos y dificultades tanto desde una perspectiva comunitaria como institucional.Así mismo, el trabajo en terreno, el conocimiento del contexto y la relación directa con la población víctima permiten realizar un análisis de los resultados de la política pública de acuerdo con las necesidades y componentes establecidos en la normatividad. Con especial atención se analizan los avances en temas de resignificación y construcción de memoria que permitan identificar avances en la implementación del componente de satisfacción.Para el logro de los productos se trabaja con una metodología cualitativa que se apoya en los fundamentos del paradigma interpretativo y reconoce los métodos hermenéuticos, fenomenológicos y etnográficos. Los resultados se trabajaron desde un proceso de codificación y categorización con el software Atlas Ti, partiendo de entrevistas, análisis de datos y codificación, lo cual permite la identificación de 6 categorías y 335 códigos que reflejan las conclusiones con relación a las categorías y análisis de las mismas articuladas al cumplimiento del objetivo y enfocadas a conocer la posición de la población y de los funcionarios frente a la efectividad en la implementación de la ley de víctimas, especialmente, en el componente de satisfacción y rehabilitación.

모의 배심원의 성별, 피해자의 저항 여부와 지적장애 유무가 성폭력 처벌 판단에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of mock juror's gender, the resistance and intellectual disability of victim on punishment judgments in a sexual assault case, this study is designed with between subjects 2(resistance: do vs do not) X 2(intellectual disability: present vs absent). Participants, aged 20 to 59 eligible for jury duty nationwide, were presented with manipulated trial scenarios and narratives regarding the resistance and intellectual disability of victim. Subsequently, they were asked to provide judgments on guilty/not guilty, probability of guilt, sentencing, as well as to provide Korean Hostile Sexism ratings. Although there was no interaction effect between the victim resistance and intellectual disability of victim on the probability of guilt and sentencing, the probability of guilt was higher when resistance was present and when there was an intellectual disability. Additionally, sentencing was higher when there was an intellectual disability. The study findings indicated that female were more likely than male to render guilty verdicts. Further analysis revealed a sequential mediating effect between gender and sentencing judgments, mediated by hostile sexism ratings and judgment of consent to sexual intercourse. In other words, men had a higher level of hostile sexism ratings than women, and the higher hostile sexism ratings, the higher the degree of sexual consent. The higher the degree of sexual consent, the lower the punitive judgment.

Offenders' approaches to overcoming victim resistance in technology-assisted child sexual abuse

BackgroundPerpetrators of technology-assisted abuse use an abundance of strategies to manipulate and sexually abuse children online, however victim resistance during and post abuse has yet to be explored in detail. ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the strategies perpetrators use to overcome direct victim resistance and the strategies victims use to resist perpetrators' demands. Participants and settingThe sample was recruited through Childline, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). This consisted of 10 semi-structured interview transcripts of 1 male and 9 female victims of technology-assisted sexual abuse, who were aged between 9 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse (M = 13.09, SD = 2.0). MethodThis study qualitatively analysed secondary data collected by Hamilton-Giachritsis et al. (2020). The interview transcripts were analysed using a thematic analysis. ResultsThe thematic map consisted of two key themes and six sub-themes. Results identified how all perpetrators appeared to adapt their strategies of overcoming victim resistance using a variety of approaches. These ranged from isolating victims and depriving them of sleep, to more extreme approaches such as threats to share sexual images of the victims. Victims also used a range of strategies to resist and de-escalate the abuse, such as feigning ignorance and complying with some but not all requests. ConclusionsThis study identified the key strategies used by offenders to overcome victim resistance, and the strategies young people used to resist, de-escalate and end the abuse.

Impacts of Victim Resistance and Type of Assault on Legal Decision-Making in Child Sexual Assault

ABSTRACT Prior studies have examined the effects of victim resistance and type of assault (attempted or completed) on perceptions of adult rape cases. However, research has not yet tested whether these findings extend to verdicts rendered in child rape cases, nor has research focused on how perceptions of victim and defendant characteristics in child rape cases may contribute to legal decision-making. In the present study, a 2 (attempted or completed sexual assault) x 3 (victim resistance: verbal-only, verbal with outside interruption, or physical) x 2 (participant sex) between-participant design was used to assess legal decision-making involving a hypothetical criminal case of child rape, with a six-year-old female victim and a 30-year-old male perpetrator. Three-hundred and thirty-five participants read a criminal trial summary and answered questions about the trial, the victim, and the defendant. Results revealed that: (a) when a victim physically resisted, compared to verbally resisted, more guilty judgments were rendered, (b) when the victim physically resisted, higher ratings for aggregated factors for Victim Credibility and Negative Perceptions of the Defendant were given, leading to more guilty verdicts, and (c) female participants were more likely than male participants to render a guilty verdict. No differences in verdict rendered between the verbal with interruption (e.g., knocking on door) and verbal-only conditions were found, nor did type of assault lead to differences in verdict rendered. Implications for child sexual assault cases and the courtroom, as well as implications for practitioners, are provided.

Falling Stories: Cinematic Naturalism and Disability in Frank Norris’ and Stephen Crane's City Sketches

Falling Stories: Cinematic Naturalism and Disability in Frank Norris’ and Stephen Crane's City Sketches

Why didn’t you resist? Situational influences on victim resistance during a rape

The purpose of this study is to examine factors influencing victim resistance during rape. Specifically, this study aims to understand which factors impact victim resistance using a multivariate approach focused on situational aspects related to offender, victim, and crime context characteristics. The sample includes 2,017 rape cases where victims did not resist, resisted passively, resisted verbally, or resisted physically. The first step of this study uses bivariate analyses to examine the relationship between the different categories of victim resistance and offender, victim, and crime context characteristics. Second, we computed three sequential binomial regressions in order to better understand the impact of each variable in multivariate modeling. The findings suggest that victim resistance is impacted by three main dimensions: victims’ physical and psychological vulnerabilities, the mentalizing of victimization risk, and the analysis of offenders’ vulnerabilities and additional risks to the victim. Both theoretical and practical implications for victims as well as for various actors in the criminal justice system are discussed.

An Examination of Noncompleted Sexual Offences, Offenders’ Perceptions of Risks and Difficulties and Related Situational Factors

Objectives: The current study aims to generate insights from sexual offenders on noncompleted sexual offences, that is, on offences that were stopped or discouraged. Methods: Using a sample of sexual offenders who initiated a sexual offence but were stopped or discouraged in action, which we refer to as noncompleted offences, we first examine which and how situational factors and internal states may affect their assessment of risks of apprehension and difficulties in this context. Second, we examine whether situational factors, internal states as well as perceived risks and difficulties can predict offence noncompletion. Linear and logistic regression models were estimated based on the type of offence (noncompleted sexual offences against women or children). Results: Main findings indicate that victim physical resistance is critical for how sex offenders are perceiving difficulties related to offending against women. The presence of a person nearby and victim resistance are predictive of noncompletion of sexual offences against children. Conclusion: This is a critical line of research because knowledge on the factors and circumstances that can discourage or stop offenders from committing crimes can be used by scholars and practitioners to think of prevention initiatives to reduce opportunities of crime.

Perceptions of Common Rape: How Rape Myth Acceptance, Victim Gender, and Victim Resistance Affect Victim and Perpetrator Blame Attributions in Party Rape and Date Rape.

Among rape perception studies, common types of male rape remain understudied. Using a randomized vignette design, I sampled 622 college students from a large Southwestern university to examine how victim gender and victim resistance influence blame attributions in party rape and date rape. Results revealed important interactions between victim gender, victim resistance, and rape type. Among other effects, resistance only affected victim blame in date rapes involving male victims. Results indicated that how respondents perceive victim and perpetrator responsibility, and which factors influence these perceptions, vary across rape type and victim gender. Implications for the rape perception literature are discussed.

Deliberating or Stalling for Justice? Dynamics of Corporate Remediation and Victim Resistance Through the Lens of Parentalism: The Fundão dam Collapse and the Renova Foundation in Brazil

Using the political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) lens of parentalism, this paper investigates the more subtle and less-visible interactional dynamics and strategies of power, resistance and justification that manifest between a multi-stakeholder-governed foundation and victims of a mining corporation’s dam collapse. The Renova Foundation was established to provide remedy through a deliberative approach to hundreds of thousands of victims from Brazil’s worst socio-environmental disaster—the collapse of Samarco Mining Corporation’s Fundão tailings dam. Data were collected from a combination of fieldwork and archival analysis to assess the perceptions of victims, their defenders and foundation executives. The findings reveal 12 dialectical tensions from Renova’s attempts to remedy the victim’s injustices. The case analysis contributes through proposing a dialectical process model of stakeholder resistance and subversion to parentalist PCSR. The case reveals the pivotal use of time via the act of stalling as a strategic resource to exhaust victims and reach settlements. Furthermore, organizations justify their parentalism by blaming delays on the bureaucracy and shared responsibility of multi-stakeholder deliberation. Ultimately, I contend that victims must have an equal voice in the outcome of their remediation and that businesses responsible for causing harm should not decide these matters.

Police Perceptions of Sex-worker Rape Victims and Their Offenders: A Vignette Study.

Women who are sex workers are at high risk of being victims of sexual violence. Yet research suggests that their claims of victimization are not taken seriously enough and largely go unbelieved by the police. The current study goes beyond the issue of victim credibility to examine police officer blame attributions and judgments toward rape victims and offenders. Two-hundred and twenty police officers read a description of the rape of a young student who was either a sex worker or not. After reading the description, participants reported their perceptions of blame toward the victim and offender, as well as their perceptions of victim resistance, consequences of rape to the victim, and feelings toward the victim. Deserved punishment for the offender was also reported. The findings indicated that police officer attributions of victim-blaming were more prominent toward the sex working victim, and they assessed the consequences that she suffered as less severe. Male officers were more biased than female officers in blame attributions toward the offender, manifested in lower levels of blaming as well as in supporting more lenient sanctions, and specifically when the victim was a sex worker. Negative sentiment toward the victim was indicated, especially among male officers, which also adhered more than female officers to the idea that the victim could have resisted the attack. The findings are interpreted within the contexts of rape myths and stereotypes and unique characteristics of the police subculture. Possible implications for the investigation of rape victims and cases are discussed. The importance of the findings is highlighted by recent data indicating that sex working may be a relatively common phenomenon among young normative students.

Recorded Withdrawal from The Police Investigation Among Victims of Rape: A Mixed Method Approach to Identifying Case Characteristics and Police Documented Reasons

According to police records, many rape cases are closed because victims withdraw from the police investigation. However, little is known about the causes of victim withdrawal, and findings need to be replicated in other cultural contexts, as existing literature primarily stems from the US and UK. Based on a sample of rapes reported in a Danish police district, the present study was aimed at enhancing our understanding of the characteristics and causes of recorded victim withdrawal from the police investigation following rape using a mixed-methods approach. The objective of the study was twofold. The first objective was to investigate the impact of selected case characteristics on the likelihood of recorded victim withdrawal using a logistic regression analysis. Results showed that stranger assaults and cases with no verbal or physical victim resistance or no forensic examination were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of recorded victim withdrawal. The second objective was to qualitatively explore police documented reasons for victim withdrawal in files using content analysis. Results indicated that victims may withdraw from the investigation for several reasons, for instance due to psychological distress associated with participating in an investigation. The findings underline potential barriers for the cooperation between victims and police in the investigation of rapes and should be used for establishing initiatives toward reducing the risk of victim withdrawal in rape investigations.

Resistance of women victims of domestic violence in dual-career family: a case from Indonesian society

ABSTRACT Domestic violence is a social problem in Indonesia, with the number of cases increasing. There have not been many sociological studies discussing women's resistance to domestic violence. This study analyses women's resistance against violence in Indonesian households with two professional spouses. It employed qualitative methods, interviewing 61 informants. The findings show that in dual-career families, women's responses to violence are sometimes active. Recurring violence fosters resistance. The study finds several triggers for resistance and various resistance strategies. The study concludes that female resistance alters husband–wife relations, reducing the oppression of wives. Thus female resistance is a strategy to fight gender inequality.

Multiple perpetrator rape: Is perpetrator violence the result of victim resistance, deindividuation, or leader–follower dynamics?

Objective: Violence perpetrated by groups has been proposed to result from processes that include deindividuation, instrumental responses to victim resistance, and leader-follower dynamics. Here we compare the explanatory merit of these accounts by analyzing the sequential patterns of behaviors that occurred in 71 accounts of multiple perpetrator rape by 189 suspects against lone females. Method: Victim accounts of the offenses made to the police were coded for leader, follower, and victim actions using the interpersonal circumplex quadrants, and the offenses were rated as involving high or low nonsexual aggression. Results: Analysis of the temporal proximities among victim and suspect behaviors found that (a) in contrast to deindividuation, hostility decreased rather than increased with group size, (b) victim behavior had no significant effect on perpetrator violence, and (c) leader behavior had a significant effect on group violence. Conclusions: Compared with low aggression offenses, high aggression offenses were characterized by the leaders' hostile behaviors reinforcing the hostile behavior of followers, as well as there being some mutual reinforcement from follower(s) to leader. This has implications for theories of (sexual) violence perpetrated by multiple individuals, as well as for clinical work with such offenders. For example, the influence of peers in these offenses has implications for the planning of interventions with such offenders and the sorts of intervention that are likely to be successful.

Lethal combinations: A conjunctive analysis of crime scene behavior associated with sexual homicide.

This research investigates violent stranger rapes and the factors leading these cases to sexual homicides. Variables relating to modus operandi characteristics on one part and offender behavior on the other part are examined using conjunctive analysis of cases configuration to identify the different combinations leading to a lethal outcome. Using a French sample of 1263 cases of violent rapes and 303 cases of sexual homicides involving female adult victims, we find that blows given by offenders and information about physical resistance of victims are strongly associated intentional and non-intentional sexual homicides. Psychoactive substance consumption by offenders as well associal isolation are in a lesser extend also associated with the lethal outcome.

Supplemental Material for Multiple Perpetrator Rape: Is Perpetrator Violence the Result of Victim Resistance, Deindividuation, or Leader–Follower Dynamics?

Supplemental Material for Multiple Perpetrator Rape: Is Perpetrator Violence the Result of Victim Resistance, Deindividuation, or Leader–Follower Dynamics?

What leads victims to resist? Factors that influence victim resistance in sexual assaults

PurposeVictim resistance has been shown to have an important impact on the outcome of sexual assaults. Thus, the factors that affect a victim’s likelihood of various levels of resistance are relevant to consider, given the possibly detrimental effect these actions can have on crime outcome. While not intended to blame the victim in any way, it is important to examine the role the victim plays within a sexually coercive interchange in order to completely understand the sex crime event and, thus, be able to inform potential victims as to the patterns that increase resistance and, potentially, overall violence. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachSequential logistic regression analyses were conducted on a sample of 613 sex offenses (incorporating both adult and child victims) to examine the individual and combined effects of offender lifestyle, disinhibitors, victim vulnerability, situational impediments and offender modus operandi on victim resistance levels.FindingsResults suggest that indicators of offender mindset are significant, particularly the use of pornography prior to the crime, and affect victim interpretation and response to the offender’s actions during the course of the assault. Other relevant factors include the victim’s age and the degree of violence present in the offender’s approach and subsequent offending strategies.Originality/valueThis information would be helpful to incorporate into victim education programs so that past and future potential victims can better understand the criminal event and the causes and effects of their own actions within that event.

Snapchat and child sexual abuse in sport: Protecting child athletes in the social media age

Child sexual abuse is a pervasive problem that sport organizations must confront to protect the integrity of sport. While previous researchers have examined this topic, few have explored the role that technology plays. The authors address this gap by examining how coach perpetrators utilize Snapchat to facilitate sexual abuse, using Cense and Brackenridge’s (2001) Temporal Model of Sexual Abuse with Children and Young Persons in Sport as a framework. Analysis of 99 media reports from 2013 to 2018 found that Snapchat provides motivation for coach perpetrators to sexually abuse that allowed them, in varied ways, to overcome internal inhibitions, external barriers, and break down victim resistance. The results indicate that youth sport organizations must develop clear policies that govern coach-athlete communication and relationships in the digital age. To further protect young athletes, youth sport organizations must develop programming to educate parents and athletes on these boundaries, to increase understanding about how sexual abuse and sexual maltreatment occur in virtual spaces.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: MISREPRESENTATION AND SOCIAL RESPONSES IN FAIRY-TALE ROMANCE AND REDEMPTION

Violence perpetrated in romantic or intimate relationships is common, dangerous, chronic, and gendered: males tend to commit this violence against females. We critically analyze scenes from the beginning of the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast using the theory of response-based practice to show how the film uses misrepresentation and social responses to disappear violence and advance the narrative of a fairy-tale love story. In response-based practice, the actions of social responders — people who respond to victims and perpetrators — are recognized as important for understanding the actions of the victims and perpetrators themselves. In this film, the servants are social responders and their actions are critical to the narrative of the film. We show how the servants actively use mutualization and misrepresentation to reformulate events, conceal the Beast’s abusive or violent actions, and obfuscate his responsibility for those actions: the Beast is held responsible merely for being uncouth in difficult circumstances. Each misrepresentation and each social response join together to create a story that is understandable as romance and redemption. In doing so, the tale can be understood as supporting many myths about violence against women and girls in intimate relationships. The film produces and reproduces common misrepresentations of violent social interaction, perpetrator actions, victim resistance, and the violence itself.

Are rape cases closed because of rape stereotypes? Results from a Danish police district

Research shows that the majority of reported rapes is never continued for prosecution but is closed during the police investigation. Studies suggest that rape assaults corresponding to stereotypes about “the real rape” and “the good victim” have a higher likelihood of continuing for prosecution. The aim of the present study was to investigate, if selected characteristics of rape stereotypes influenced investigational outcomes within a Danish police district participating in a multidisciplinary rape response team. The study was based on all reported rapes or rape attempts within a Danish police district over a three-year period (n = 248). Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate, if selected assault and victim characteristics influenced the likelihood of case continuing for prosecution. The following four prominent characteristics of rape stereotypes were selected for investigation: stranger perpetrator, no victim intoxication during the assault, presence of victim resistance and victim physical injuries, respectively. Results indicated that prominent characteristics of rape stereotypes significantly influenced whether the case was continued for prosecution. However, the independent effects of the investigated characteristics were not distinctively supportive of an investigative bias toward rape stereotypes. Even so, no victim intoxication during the assault and more physical injuries were found to increase the likelihood of case continuing for prosecution in this sample of reported rapes. Results are discussed in relation to the possible influence of a coordinated multidisciplinary rape response approach that characterized this sample.