The victim in the system: The influence of police responsiveness on victim alienation

Sexual assault cases in the legal system: Police, prosecutor, and victim perspectives.

“…These positive attitudes toward the police have been found elsewhere, both among rape victims and crime victims in general (Knudten et al, 1976; Skogan, 1989; cf. Norris & Thompson, 1993). Nonetheless, the victims in our study are less satisfied with the amount of information and attention detectives provide.…”

Police Interviews of Sexual Assault Reporters: Do Attitudes Matter?

“…Department of Justice, 2002). Situations that dynamically resemble the rape incident (e.g., a female victim alone in a room with an authoritative male) may trigger anxiety-related responses such as changing the subject, avoiding eye contact, exhibiting inappropriate affect, emotional hypersensitivity, initial omission of details, or concentration/memory problems (Kaysen, Morris, Rizvi, & Resick, 2005;Norris & Thompson, 1993). To an officer unfamiliar with PTSD, these behaviors may suggest fabrication, substance abuse, or mental illness (Lonsway et al, 2009).…”

“…Some generalizations about police culture that may be relevant to sexual assault victim interviewing include (a) law enforcement organizations are hierarchically organized and tend to be male dominated, thus the skills for developing rapport with females and subordinates are not central to the officer role (Dodge, Valcore, & Klinger, 2010; Gregory & Lees, 1999); (b) apprehension of criminals is perceived as the primary task of police work and taking crime reports is viewed as more subsidiary, thus most training is focused on the former (Milne & Bull, 2007); (c) emotional detachment is prized and empathizing with victims can be viewed as a deviation from objectivity (Jordan, 2001;Norris & Thompson, 1993); and (d) police work is often stressful, so some officers employ a rapid-fire questioning style that leaves little time for victims to elaborate (Epstein & Langenbahn, 1994). Police officers may subject rape reporters to intense questioning regarding inconsistencies in their statements, insist they take lie detector tests, restrict their access to support persons during interviews, fail to refer them to victim advocates, compromise their confidentiality, use intimidating postures and tones, subject them to multiple interviews, or demonstrate a lack of flexibility (Archambault & Lindsay, 2001;Frazier & Haney, 1996;Jordan, 2001).…”

After the hate: Helping psychologists help victims of racist hate crime.

“…In its most basic form, secondary victimization occurs as a result of the inherent difficulties in a system that strives to balance the rights of the victim against the rights of the accused (Symonds, 1980). More subtly, secondary victimization of victims of crime occurs throughout the process of criminal investigation and prosecution, from investigation, to trial, to sentencing, to release (Elias, 1984; Norris & Thompson, 1993).…”