Do Impulsivity and Education Moderate the Effectiveness of Police Sexual Assault Investigations Training? Findings From a Solomon Four-Group Quasi-Experiment

DOI10.1177/00938548211034212
Published date01 October 2021
Date01 October 2021
Subject MatterArticles
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2021, Vol. 48, No. 10, October 2021, 1411 –1430.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548211034212
Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions
© 2021 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
1411
DO IMPULSIVITY AND EDUCATION MODERATE
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POLICE SEXUAL
ASSAULT INVESTIGATIONS TRAINING?
Findings From a Solomon Four-Group
Quasi-Experiment
BRADLEY A. CAMPBELL
DAVID S. LAPSEY JR.
University of Louisville
Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of sexual assault investigations training using experimental designs. Existing
studies have not examined the impact of officers’ levels of impulsivity and education on training effectiveness. Using a
Solomon four-group quasi-experimental design to assess pretesting effects, we examined the impact of training, impulsivity,
and education on officers’ (N = 432) adherence to rape myths and knowledge of victim reporting behaviors. Ordinary least
squares (OLS) models were estimated to examine main effects of training, and moderating effects of impulsivity and educa-
tion on training for our outcome variables. Results demonstrated that training, impulsivity, and education predicted improve-
ments in attitudinal and cognitive outcomes. However, neither impulsivity nor education moderated—or changed—the
effectiveness of training. In addition, training effects held over time, and we did not detect evidence of pretesting effects.
Findings from this study improve our understanding of police sexual assault investigations training and provide method-
ological advancements for police training evaluations.
Keywords: policing; police training; sexual assault investigations; Solomon four-group quasi-experiment; police education;
police impulsivity
AUTHORS’ NOTE: The authors thank James Root, Frank Kubala, and John Schwartz of the Kentucky
Department of Criminal Justice Training (KYDOCJT) for their assistance in facilitating this evaluation. We
also thank members of the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, the Kentucky SART Advisory
Committee, and the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General for their helpful insights on the study. Finally, we
thank the officers who participated in the KYDOCJT training programs for their participation in the evaluation.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2017-AK-BX-009 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The
Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which
also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in
this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or polices of the
U.S. Department of Justice. The authors declared no potential or actual conflicts of interest in regard to this
study, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be
addressed to Bradley A. Campbell, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, University of
Louisville, 2311 S. 3rd Street, Louisville, KY 40208; e-mail: bradley.campbell@louisville.edu.
1034212CJBXXX10.1177/00938548211034212Criminal Justice and BehaviorCampbell, Lapsey / Police Sexual Assault Investigations Training
research-article2021
1412 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR
With estimates indicating that 43.6% of women and 24.8% of men have survived some
form of sexual violence, sexual assault is a significant criminal justice issue in the
United States (Smith et al., 2018). Sexual assault has been linked to several consequences
for survivors over the life course, including posttraumatic stress disorder (Ullman & Filipas,
2001), anxiety and depression (Davis et al., 2020), and elevated rates of substance abuse
(Trickett et al., 2011). Termed secondary trauma, these negative consequences can increase
when survivors are met with disbelief when reporting victimization to police (Maier, 2008).
One contributor to this secondary trauma is officers’ adherence to rape myths (Hine &
Murphy, 2019). For example, studies find that some officers expect sexual assault cases to
involve an unknown assailant who uses force, and a victim who sustained injury and resisted
the attack (Estrich, 1987). When these expectations are not met, allegations are often ques-
tioned, which reduces victim engagement with investigators and increases case attrition
(O’Neal, 2019). Indeed, rape myth adherence has contributed to case attrition rates as high
as 80% in some jurisdictions (Morabito et al., 2019).
These high rates of case attrition deny justice for victims and prevent individuals charged
with sexual offenses from being held accountable (Lovell et al., 2020). Accordingly, it is
critical for officers to receive training aimed at reducing adherence to rape myths, minimiz-
ing secondary trauma, and improving victim engagement with the criminal justice system
(O’Neal, 2019). To accomplish this goal, reformers have recommended training to educate
officers about the neurobiology of trauma (e.g., natural biological responses to victimiza-
tion), rape myth acceptance, and investigative techniques that can facilitate well-being,
reduce harmful interactions with police officers, and in turn increase victim engagement
with investigations (International Association of Chiefs of Police [IACP], n.d.). Although
this training has been offered by some organizations (e.g., End Violence Against Women
International, 2016), few jurisdictions require sexual assault investigations training, and
fewer have evaluated such training (see Sleath & Bull, 2017). Outcomes from existing
evaluations are mixed. Some found training increased knowledge of investigative practices
(Lonsway et al., 2001), reduced victim blame (Darwinkel et al., 2013), improved officer
behavior in hypothetical (Tidmarsh et al., 2021) and actual cases (Mourtgos et al., 2021),
and decreased rape myth acceptance (B. A. Campbell et al., 2020). Others found training
did not reduce officers’ adherence to rape myths (Lee et al., 2012; Lonsway et al., 2001).
Different outcomes across studies may be caused by variation in study design, as some
evaluations did not use experimental designs (Ask, 2010; Lee et al., 2012), while others
employ pre/posttest experiments that may suffer threats to internal validity in the form of
pretesting effects (Solomon, 1949). Outcomes may also be influenced by course length and
content, with findings suggesting that longer programs yield better outcomes (Tidmarsh
et al., 2020).
In addition, most sexual assault training evaluations focused on the impact of training
and demographics on outcomes, whereas measures of personality traits are largely omitted
from analyses. This oversight is problematic as Garza and Franklin (2021) found that
impulsivity—a measure of self-control—was the strongest predictor of rape myth accep-
tance among police officers. To date, one training evaluation assessed the impact of impul-
sivity on officer knowledge of victim reporting behaviors (e.g., knowledge of survivors’
responses to trauma), finding that lower levels of impulsivity and training were correlated
with increased knowledge (Franklin et al., 2020). Yet, research has not examined whether
impulsivity moderates—or changes—the relationship between training and perceptions of

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