ORAL PRESENTATION: RAPE STUDIES - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

ORAL PRESENTATION: RAPE STUDIES

By

K1652744

2016/2017

Module

:

Criminological

Research

and

Practice

Slide2

Analysed

Studies

RAPE OF OLDER PEOPLE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: CHALLENGING THE ‘REAL – RAPE’ STEREOTYPE (

BOWS H., WESTMARLAND N., 2015

)

LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH WITH SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS: A METHODOLOGICAL REVIEW (

CAMPBELL R., SPRAGUE B.H., COTRRILL S., SULLIVAN M.C., 2011

)Slide3

First Research

Study

: Older Victims

Underestimated

area of

research

.

In the UK

only

three

studies

(

Ball &

Fowler

,;

Jeary

; Lea

et al

.)

were

published

in the last decade.

Knowledge and

understanding

of the

prevalence

,

characteristics

and

impacts

are

extremely

limited

.

‘REAL - RAPE’.

Described

by

Estrich

(

1987

)

as

a

stereotype

involving

a white,

young

victim

attacked

at

night by a

stranger

motivated

by

sexual

gratification

.

Curse

of the

term

in

marginalising

research

. Slide4

Research Methods

AIM:

Investigate the nature and

extent

of

serious

sexual

offences

reported

to the

police

by

older

victims

(60 or over)

.

Funded

by the

Economic

and Social

Research

Council

[ES/J500082/1].

TOOLS:

The

Freedom

of Information Act 2000 and the

Freedom

of Information Act 2002

were

used

to

issue

requests

for data

held

by

all

of the

police

forces

in the UK.

FOI

request

was

piloted

and

sent

to

all

46 UK

police

forces

. The

requests

were

divided

in

two

parts

:

2

questions

(

N

of

recorded

rape and

sexual

assault

by

penetration

between

1/01/2009 and 31/12/2013)

N of rape and

sexual

assault

offences

involving

a

victim

aged

60 or >,

same

period

.

Total

response

: 45/46. Slide5

Research Findings

Overall

number

of

reported

offences

involving older victim was low compared with younger age groups. - Total number: 87,230. Involving older victims: 655 (0,75%).Gender - Female victims (92%). Male victims (7%). Perpetrators were most likely to be younger than their victims. - Majority of offenders were aged 60 (66%), 40-59 (42%). Victims were aged between 60 and 98. Most perpetrators were known to the victim. - Aquaintance (26%) - Partner/Husband (20%) - Stranger (20%)Location - 54% of offences were committed in the victim’s home.

80% of

victims

knew

their

perpetrator.Slide6

Methodological limitations

Police data are

limited

to

recorded

offences

only

and, since the current research estimates only 15% of sexual offences are reported, this implies a narrow picture. No measure of prevalence. Way and systems used not uniform in all forces. Comparison is not reliable. Problematic access to data through FOI requests if no clear definitions.Time and cost effective. Slide7

Advantages

Accessibility

Under – utilized.

Avoids

challenges

such

as negotiating access to research site or data. Practical. Effective Generating new insights Slide8

Conclusions

An

analysis of sexual

violence

against

older

women must therefore take into account the social structural postion of older women in society and consider a range of factors such as age and gender. The existing research exploring sexual violence against older people has tended to group all women over a certain age together as an homogeneous groups and has not been sensitive to the differences. Recently,, there has been some acceptance that older people can experience sexual violence. Slide9

Second Research

Study

: Sexual Assault Survivors

Methodological

review

of

projects

(

N=32) that have used prospective longitudinal designs to study occurrence of sexual victimization throughout the lifespan and/or the process of change during rape recovery. Five questions: What were the substantive foci of these longitudinal studies?2) How where survivors recruited?3) What participation rates were typical?4) How long were participants followed overtime and with what success rates?5) What incentives were used to increase participation?Slide10

Research Metods

3 phase

process

: 1)

PsycINFO

/

PsycARTICLES

database + Cambridge Scientific = 32 published articles 2) Identification of 10 authors + 15 additional articles3) Manual search over the last 20 years in selected journals + 3 articles Final Sample: 53 articles Slide11

Research Findings

First Question

:

What

are the

substantive

topics

in longitudinal sexual assault research to date? The substantive foci of the 32 projects classified into five categories: - understanding the mental health sequelae of sexual victimization - multiple effective therapeutic interventions for alleviation of synthoms / prevention of substance abuse - sexual revictimization - development of interventions for preventions of victimization / revict. - measurement development Slide12

Second Question: How do

researchers

identify and recruit

sexual

assault

survivors

for

longitudinal research? - 22 projects srecruited survivors from medical, legal, and/or sociale service programs - 11 recruited exclusively from first-response help-seeking sites - 11 recruited through collaboration with newspapers and programs.Third Question: What are Survivor’s Initial Participation Rates in Longitudinal Research? - Participation rates ranged from 12% to 69%, but most were less than 45%. Not unexpected since the study involves the recruitment of survivors immediately postassault when trauma is

still fresh.Slide13

Fourth

Question

: What retention

rates

are

typical

in

longitudinal

sexual assault research? - As expected, retention rates were higher in college student studies of revictimization or revictimization interventions (81%). - Studies of postassault health sequelae and interventions (73-77%) - Treatment completion rates (68-87%). Fifth Question: What incentives are used in longitudinal sexual assault research? - Half of the projects provided financial compensation, from 10$ to 60$ for the first assessment. Many of the project, increased the amount of compensation for further assessments and/or provided a bonus for follow-ups. Slide14

Methodological Limitations

Expensive

Lenghty

Requires

extensive

resources

to do wellTracking women over time who had experienced violence poses additional safety and ethical considerations. Difficulty in keeping survivors safe from researchers. Slide15

Advantages

Longitudinal

studies

offer

the

possibility

of

establishing

causality by analysing temporal effects and ruling out confounding explanations. Singer and Willett (2003) divided longitudinal studies in: questions regarding change and event occurrence. They allow to see rises and falls over time in focal variables. It can also be used to determine wether different people have variable patterns of within- individual change and predicts differences. Can help to identify risk assault and factors that predict victimization.Understanding of survivor’s well-being.Slide16

Conclusions

This

analysis of 32

longitudinal

sexual

assault

projects highlights that choice of recruitment sites and the use of participant incentives may make a difference in initial participation rates.With incentives of therapeutic interventions, participation rates tend to be higher than in nonintervention projects. It is important to keep in mind that most rape survivors do not seek community services so all the health and security facilities can only reach segments of what must be presumed to be a diverse, heterogeneous population. Slide17

References

Campbell C., Sprague B.H.,

Cottrill S., Sullivan M.C. (2011) Longitudinal

Research

With

Sexual

Assault

Survivors

: A

Methodological Review. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(3), 433-461.Bows H., Westmarland N. (2017) Rape of Older People in the United Kingdom: Challenging the ‘Real – Rape’ Stereotype. British Journal of Criminology, 57, 1-17.Slide18

Thank

you

for your attention