Intersecting Rape Myths with Race: Examining Race- and Ethnicity-Specific Effects of Rape Myth Factors on Police Responses to Sexual Assault

Abstract

In the current study, I integrate the focal concerns perspective, rape myths, and intersectionality to propose a theoretical framework through which rape myths contribute to racial disparities in criminal justice responses to sexual assault reports. I hypothesized rape myths would have larger effects on police decisions when victims are Black or Latina, compared to White. Using data from the Los Angeles Sexual Assault Study, I examined 726 cases of reported sex offenses, to determine if victim race conditions the effects of rape myths on the unfounding and arrest decisions. Victim race did not affect decisions directly, but rape myth factors had larger effects on police decisions when the victim was Black. Findings indicate that race influences decisions through rape myths and that rape myths contribute not only to gender biases but also racial biases and disparity in the criminal legal system.

Keywords:

• Racial disparity
• sexual assault
• rape myths
• intersectionality
• focal concerns
• police decisions

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Cassia Spohn for sharing the data used in this study and for feedback on early drafts of the study. I also thank Drs. Stacia Stolzenberg and Xia Wang for feedback on early drafts.

Notes

1 Other racial groups, like Indigenous and Asian people, also experience discrimination and disparate treatment in the criminal legal system. Racism toward these groups also interacts with gender in documented ways, like the sexualized stereotype of Asian women masseuses and the epidemic of murdered and missing Indigenous women. My decision to exclude these groups from the focus of this study was based on constraints of sample size. But future researchers should collect data that allows for intersectional analyses related to these racial groups.

2 The unfound decision occurs before the arrest decision. The officer or detective assesses if the victim’s report has merit (a crime may have occurred), or if the claim is false (the person lied) or baseless (there is no evidence). Once founded, police may open an investigation. Once they establish probable cause that a crime did occur, they may arrest a suspect.

3 The effects of several legally relevant factors were statistically significant, including evidence strength, penetration, suspect identified, and victim cooperated. Additionally, several control variables were statistically significantly associated with unfound, arrest, or both. As the focus of this study was on the direct and interactive effects of victim race and rape myths, discussing the effects of these other variables was outside the scope.