Rape myths as a challenge to objective policing: exploring attitudinal antecedents of rape myth acceptance and police officers' judgements of rape scenarios

Abstract

Background: Rape cases are chronically under-reported to police at around 20%, and suffer from worrying levels of attrition (Lea, Lanvers & Shaw, 2003). Attitudes held by police officers representing acceptance of rape myths (among others) may contribute to this, by influencing decisions taken when dealing with victims. Indeed, research has demonstrated that, despite changes in practice in the UK, rape myth acceptance, and specifically victim blaming, is still present in police officers (Page, 2010; Sleath & Bull, 2012; 2015), may affect decision making (O’Keeffe, Brown, & Lyons, 2009), and may discourage woman from reporting sexual violence (Jordan, 2001, 2004; Page, 2010). This study investigated how levels of these attitudes differ between officers with and without specialist training, compared to undergraduate students, as well as how they relate to each other in an attitudinal framework. In addition, varying rape scenarios were presented to assess differences in victim and perpetrator blame between these groups. Methods: An anticipated (current) 100 (40) undergraduates, 250 (60) police officers, and 250 (50) specialist officers in sexual offences will complete measures of Ambivalent Sexism (Glick & Fiske, 1996), Hostility Towards Women (Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1995), Power and Sex (Chapleau & Oswald, 2010), and Acceptance of Modern Myths about Sexual Aggression (Gerger, Kley, Bohner, & Siebler, 2007). Participants will also make victim blame judgements on rape scenarios that vary on victim reputation, relationship to perpetrator and point of initial resistance. Statistical analysis will explore the relationship between the attitudes, and their relation to victim blame judgements, across groups