No abstract

En las últimas décadas, muchos autores han estudiado la opinión pública como una de las fuentes de influencia más importantes en la política criminal y la legislación penal. Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar las diferencias entre opinión pública y opinión pública meditada en relación a la delincuencia sexual en cuanto a su contenido y resistencia a la influencia de los medios de comunicación. El diseño consiste en un experimento con tres observaciones y asignación de los participantes (299 estudiantes universitarios) a los grupos tratamiento y control. Los resultados muestran que el uso de la encuesta deliberativa genera un cambio en las actitudes de los participantes, y que puede llegar a matizar la influencia de los medios de comunicación, constituyendo así un potencial instrumento para la elaboración de la política criminal en España.

Stranger rapes are the most difficult cases to solve for the police, especially when a serial rapist is involved. Recent research in offender profiling has focused on generating inferences between crime scene variables and offender characteristics to aid the police investigation. This study aims to develop an empirical model to predict a new case of a serial stranger rapist by analyzing a Spanish sample of 231 one-off and 38 serial sexual offenders. A multivariate logistic regression model that included eight significant crime-related variables was able to predict whether an unknown offender is a one-off or serial rapist based only on the victim’s account. The predictive validity of the model was tested using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and the result of AUC value indicated a medium predictive capacity. The final model correctly classifies nearly 80% of serial stranger rapist cases. The implications of these findings for criminal investigation are discussed.

No abstract

Multiple-perpetrator rape is an under-studied topic, but there has been a recent increase in studies on the differences between multiple-perpetrator sexual offenses and the ones perpetrated by solo offenders. This study aims to have a deeper understanding of the differences between multiple-perpetrator and solo-offender sexual assaults committed by strangers, from a sample of 400 sexual aggressions reported to the Spanish police in 2010. Differences were explored on variables related to characteristics of perpetrators, the assault (approach, control, maintenance, termination, and sexual behavior), and the victims. Data were obtained from police files on sexual assaults committed around the country. Significant differences found were similar to other studies conducted in other countries and proved that multiple perpetrator assaults committed by strangers are a different subtype. Additionally, four predictive variables of multiple-perpetrator rape were identified: older age (OR = 0.943, 95% CI = [0.92, 0.97]), alcohol or drug use (OR = 2.499, 95% CI = [1.50, 4.32]), non-Spanish nationals (OR = 1.980, 95% CI = [1.14, 3.45]), and use of violence to control the victim (OR = 2.465, 95% CI = [1.03, 5.90]). The cultural and leisure characteristics of Spanish society provide facilitating opportunities for multiple-perpetrator rapes and prevention strategies should be urgently addressed.