Sexual Violence Survivors’ Experiences with the Police and Willingness to Report Future Victimization

Abstract

Sexual assault is a highly underreported crime with many survivors feeling dissatisfied regarding their contact with the police. While procedural justice can improve police interactions, it has received little consideration concerning its potential to improve the experiences of sexual assault survivors. We explore the relationship between interactions with detectives during an investigation and survivors’ willingness to report to the police in the future through a procedural justice framework using a U.S. community sample of sexual assault survivors. Quantitative data show willingness to report future crimes when survivors perceived adherence to procedural justice in their interactions with the detective(s). Qualitative data indicated that future reporting was influenced by the treatment survivors received by the police as well as other factors (e.g., altruistic motives, ability to self-advocate). We discuss implications for policing practices based on our findings to improve access to justice for survivors that minimizes risk of secondary victimization.

Keywords:

• Police
• procedural justice
• sexual assault
• reporting

Notes

1 Due to the high attrition rate of sexual assault, many participants did not report to the police and make it to the point of interacting with a detective

2 Given the small sample size of cases with participants who interacted with a detective, we conducted a power analysis to determine the minimum sample size necessary for adequate power which determined the sample size needed for the maximum possible control variables (16) and predictor variable (1) is 74 cases (Faul et al., 2009).

3 The final version of the codebook included 97 individual codes, housed within broader headings or “families”. For a full list of codes and ICR assessments, see Lorenz, 2017.

4 To build on this finding, we conducted a hierarchal regression model to test for a potential moderating effect using the interaction term physical injury X detective interaction. The model was not significant (p = .099).

5 One participant (Amber: F, Bl, 30–40) had a positive experience with the police and stated she would contact the police in the future. She discussed trust in the detectives she worked with as an important element in this decision.