Detectives’ Descriptions of Their Responses to Sexual Assault Cases and Victims: Assessing the Overlap Between Rape Myths and Focal Concerns

• DOI: 10.1177/10986111211037592
• Author: Megan Verhagan,Suzanne St. George,Cassia Spohn
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

rticle

Detectives’

Descriptions of Their

Responses to Sexual

Assault Cases and

Victims: Assessing the

Overlap Between Rape

Myths and Focal

Concerns

Suzanne St. George ,

Megan Verhagan, and Cassia Spohn

Abstract

Increasing just responses to sexual assault requires understanding how police per-

ceive sexual assault cases and victims, and which legal (e.g., evidence), extralegal (e.g.,

suspect characteristics), and practical (e.g., convictability) concerns influence their

responses in these cases. Using interview data collected in the Los Angeles Sexual

Assault Study, we qualitatively analyzed 611 comments made by 52 detectives in

response to questions about case processing decisions (e.g., what it takes to arrest)

to examine the factors detectives described as relevant to their assessments of

allegations as legitimate, victims as credible, and cases as chargeable. Results revealed

overlap between rape myths and legal, extralegal, and practical concerns. Specifically,

comments referenced rape myths in relation to suspect blameworthiness and dan-

gerousness, evidence, victim cooperation, and prosecutors’ decisions. Comments

also revealed some detectives lacked knowledge of relevant legal statutes and case

processing guidelines (e.g., unfound criteria). These results suggest that sexual assault

School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Corresponding Author:

Suzanne St. George, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central

Ave., Suite 600, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States.

Email: sscoble@asu.edu

Police Quarterly

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111211037592

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2022, Vol. 25(1) 90 –117

St. George et al. 91

case attrition stems from an orientation to prosecutors’ charging criteria rather than

probable cause, and organizational factors, such as deprioritization of sex crimes

investigations. We recommend that departments adequately staff and equip sex

crimes units with investigatory resources and prioritize sex crimes investigations

over non-violent crimes. Departments should incentivize sex crimes assignments

and screen applicants for quality, experience, and bias. Detectives in these units

should undergo regular trainings on unfounding and probable cause criteria and

should be required to make arrests when they have probable cause to do so.

Keywords

police decision-making, sexual assault, rape myths, focal concerns, content analysis

In 1990, Kerstetter suggested that prosecutors control the gateway to justice.

Accordingly, scholars studying attrition in sexual assault cases have focused

primarily on the decisions of prosecutors. Police, however, arguably contribute

even more to sexual assault case attrition than prosecutors. According to the

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2018a, 2018b), police arrest suspects in only 14% of

sex offenses reported to them. Furthermore, the decisions to unfound reports,

arrest suspects, and refer cases to prosecutors for charging determine which

cases arrive on prosecutors’ desks. Police investigative decisions—how they

interview complainants or interrogate suspects, whether to conduct a pretext

phone call—also likely influence prosecutors’ case assessments and charging

decisions. If prosecutors control the gateway to justice, police control the flow

of traffic pressing against the gate.

Scholars studying police responses to sexual assault cases have shown that

legal (e.g., evidence strength) and extralegal (e.g., victim risk-taking behavior)

factors contribute to attrition. Importantly, extralegal factors associated with

“rape myths”—false stereotypes about rape that blame victims and minimize

harm (Burt, 1980; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994)—influence how police perceive

sexual assault victims and classify their reports. Relying on rape myths to dif-

ferentiate true or viable cases from false or difficult ones is a problem; it dis-

advantages female victims of crime and injects gender discrimination into

criminal justice processes. It remains unclear, however, if police are aware of

their reliance on extralegal factors, the relative weight they place on them com-

pared to legal factors, and their justifications for doing so. Importantly, the role

of rape myths in police decision-making may not stem from implicit or explicit

sexism. The purpose of our study was to elucidate this complexity. Using

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