Sexual assault victims and their willingness to participate in prosecution

Abstract

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to gain insight into the low prosecution rate of sexual assault cases by determining the proportion of reported offenses that go unprosecuted due to the victim's unwillingness to participate in prosecution ; and (2) to identify factors which deter victims from proceeding or are serious problems to those who do prosecute. This study was conducted in three major phases. Phase one involved the development of a study group and collection of background data. The study group consisted of all adult female sexual assault victims whose report to the Youngstown Police Department led to the filing of an incident report during a specific time period (January, 1973 to September, 1974). Background data was collected from Incident Report Summary cards on such items as: (1) the victim's name and address; (2) the victim's age and race ; ( 3 ) the assailant's race; ( 4 ) the amount of violence during the assault; and (5) a brief description of the incident.

Phase two of this study concerned location of subjects and the interview process. Victims were contacted either by the Youngstown Police Department or directly by the researcher to schedule interviews. Unstructured personal interviews were conducted privately by a woman interviewer. Notes were not taken during interviews. Phase three involved the analysis of data. The following characteristics of the study group were summarized: (1) age and race of victims; (2) race of assailant; (3) amount of violence during the assault; (4) type of assault; and (5) general location of the incident. Interviewee characteristics were also summarized and then compared to study group characteristics. Characteristics were compared to determine if the interviewees were representative of the study group. Interviews provided information about the proportion of victims unwilling to proceed beyond the point of reporting the incident to the police. Problem factors identified by victims were listed and compared to alleged deterrents to prosecution. Finally, these factors were categorized according to whether their solutions are "inside" or ''outside" the criminal justice systern.