Turpin_Research Log 2

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George Mason University *

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302

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Psychology

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Oct 30, 2023

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IM USING 1 CRISIS PASS Research Log 2 Major: Forensic Psychology Current & Unresolved Issue: Treatment for victims of sex crimes and violence Research question: How the discernment of the justice system’s treatment of sexual crime victims including concerns about credibility and access to justice and support resources, exert influence on victim's decisions to report or not report and reach out for treatment? Source 1: Cowan, A., Ashai, A., & Gentile, J. P. (2020). Psychotherapy with Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault. Innovations in clinical neuroscience , 17 (1-3), 22–26. Source type: Secondary source Genre: Scientific literature URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7239557/ Key search terms: ‘treatment for sexual abuse survivors’ Rhetorical Context (exigence, purpose, and target audience): The problem the authors respond to is the treatment available for sexual abuse and assault survivors. The purpose is to examine different forms of therapy and what benefits survivors. The target audience is sexual abuse and assault survivors. Source summary: The focus of this article is to emphasize the importance of being aware of the issues within the treatment for sexual assault survivors. The authors go over various forms of treatment specifically, psychotherapy. Within this she mentions proper treatment techniques to better support survivors. Source contribution: “ This vignette demonstrates that, again, as with psychodynamic psychotherapy and TF-CBT, the therapist encourages a strong therapeutic alliance and empathy to lay the groundwork for trust and the discussion of difficult topics.” “The intersection of sexual assault and psychotherapy is complicated. It was not until relatively recently that the treatment of survivors of sexual assault came to be under the purview of psychotherapeutic treatment.” Research direction: New research this source inspires is new forms of treatment for survivors including psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy, and general guidelines for psychologists to help victims open up and talk about hard topics. New terms: transference, psychodynamic psychotherapy, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy Source 2: Bostaph, L. G., King, L. L., & Brady, P. Q. (2021). How victim credibility and cooperation influence investigative decision-making: examining DOJ's gender bias principles for investigating domestic and sexual violence. [How victim credibility and cooperation influence] Policing, 44 (4), 612-627. Source type: Scholarly journal Genre: Journal article URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-02-2021-0018 Key search terms: ‘credibility of sexual crime victims’

Rhetorical Context (exigence, purpose, and target audience): The problem the authors respond to is victim credibility within the DOJ. The purpose is to examine if and how victim credibility affects decision making and the outcome of cases in sexual assault. The target audience is victims and police. Source summary: The focus of this article is to understand how law enforcement officers and the government examine and interpret victim credibility. It makes note on how the officers age, gender, and other factors may affect their approach to believing a victim of domestic and sexual assault crimes. Source contribution: “ Yet, no empirical evidence exists to support this assumption, and an unexplained gap exists between the reported low prevalence of myth acceptance among policing professionals and the much larger proportion of cases with officers noting at least one victim credibility problem which, in this study, was 75%.” “While it is possible that victim credibility assessments occur before interviewing practices are employed, for example, it is also entirely feasible that assessments of victim credibility are fluid and change throughout the course of an investigation.” Research direction: New research this source inspires is the impact of procedural justice concerns and the assessment of victim credibility by participating enforcement officers. New terms: victim credibility, officer decision-making, cooperation, Department of Justice Source 3: Wallenborn, J. K. (2022). Why Sexual Assault Kits Were Not Tested: A Systematic Review. Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society, 23 (3), 22-44. Source type: Secondary source Genre: Scientific literature URL: https://doi.org/10.54555/ccjls.5382.56907 Key search terms: ‘belief of sex crime victims’ Rhetorical Context (exigence, purpose, and target audience): The problem the authors to respond to is why sexual assault kits were not tested. The purpose of this article is to address the systemic issue of law enforcement agencies not uploading sexual assault kits for testing which would prove a victim of lying. The target audience is pretty much anyone wondering why rape cases are not going to court. In specific survivors and their families. Source summary: The focus of this article is to examine the issue of untested sexual assault kits through looking at research and understanding the systemic practice for not submitting it for forensic testing. Source contribution: “As police bear responsibility for submitting SAKs to crime labs for forensic DNA testing that could lead to the identification, arrest, and prosecution of an offender, yet routinely opt not to do so, a growing body of research has explored why this occurs in order to better understand this phenomenon and proffer informed considerations.” “Although victims evidently lack the authority to compel police to test their SAKs, this study reveals they do exert some influence over the decision to not have their kit tested. Police do not send SAKs for testing if the victim requests that their kit not be tested, informs police that a crime did not occur, declines to file a police report, is unreachable, or is perceived by the police as uncooperative.” Research direction: New research this source inspires is that some law enforcement officers may not be submitting rape kits. New terms: sexual assault rape kit, evidence, DNA

Source 4: Murmu, S. K., Keche, A. S., Patnaik, M., & Sahoo, N. (2023). An Analysis of Psychological Perceptions of Survivors of Sexual Assault. Cureus , 15 (5), e39618. Source type: Secondary source Genre: Scientific literature URL: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.39618 Key search terms: ‘psychology’ ‘sexual assault survivors’ Rhetorical Context (exigence, purpose, and target audience): The problem the authors respond to is the mental and psychological status survivors display and the responses related to time. The purpose is to analyze psychological perceptions of survivors of sexual assault. The target audience is survivors of sexual assault and associates. Source summary: The focus of this article is to study and understand the background of perpetrators, the reasoning behind delayed reporting of sexual abuse and assault and study the mental and psychological effects of survivors since the assault. Source contribution: “ There are many reasons for the high probability of the culprits being someone known to the survivor.” “In this study, special emphasis was laid on the psychological assessment of the survivor following the sexual assault which includes the study of the survivor’s behavior, feelings of guilt, depression, etc. to know the extent of suffering as described in Rape Trauma Syndrome, which is a post-traumatic panic-disorder following sexual assault.” Research direction: New research this source inspires is examining the experiences of sexual crime survivors over a two-year period. It also suggests several new ways to further study and understand consent and the stigmas surrounding sexual assault. New terms: consent, perception of sexual assault, sexual violence, Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act Source 5: Lathan, E. C., Koon-Magnin, S., Selwyn, C. N., Hope, I., & Langhinrichsen-Rohling Jennifer. (2023). Rape Myth Acceptance and Other Barriers to Formally Reporting Sexual Assault Among College Students with and Without Sexual Assault Histories. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38 (9-10), 6773-6797. Source type: Scholarly journal Genre: Journal article URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221137703 Key search terms: ‘reporting sexual assault.’ Rhetorical Context (exigence, purpose, and target audience): The problem the authors respond to is the low rates of sexual assault being reported and rape myth acceptance. The purpose is to influence reporting rape and sexual assault and to understand the history of survivors. The target audience is survivors of sexual assault. Source summary: The focus of this article and study is to examine rape myth acceptance levels and misconceptions that revolve around violence against women. This study sought the differences in levels among women who reported sexual assault and who did not report sexual assault and their level of rape myth acceptance. Source contribution: “ On average, survivors who have chosen to officially report the assault endorse lower levels of rape myth acceptance than non-reporting survivors.”

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“For instance, in a recent study of 409 undergraduate students with and without sexual assault histories, individuals most often endorsed the following as important barriers to reporting a hypothetical rape to law enforcement: fear of the offender, not wanting others to know, shame/embarrassment, and not wanting police or court involvement.” “Awareness of potential differences in barriers to reporting between survivors and individuals without sexual assault histories is necessary to ensure targeted education about best practices in disclosure responding is provided and the appropriate mechanisms that influence formal reporting and informal disclosure decisions are addressed.” Research direction: New research this source inspires is to understand rape myth acceptance in whether a survivor reports the crime. There are a lot of barriers and beliefs among survivors and their decision to report especially on college campuses. New terms: Rape myth acceptance, Source 6: Schwarz, S., Baum, M. A., & Cohen, D. K. (2022). (Sex) Crime and Punishment in the #MeToo Era: How the Public Views Rape. Political Behavior, 44 (1), 75-104. Source type: Secondary source Genre: Appeal URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09610-9 Key search terms: ‘treatment of sex crime victims’ Rhetorical Context (exigence, purpose, and target audience): The problem that the authors respond to is how the public views rape. The purpose is to educate the public on the reasoning behind the bias opinions and why victims may not want to report rape. The target audience is the political system and victims of sex crimes. Source summary: The focus of this article is to understand the impact of how the public perceives rape and how the United States political and justice system handles sexual violence. The authors conducted a study examining the factors of contemporary rape culture in the American society using an experiment. In conclusion, the biases within the public contribute to a large reason on why rape victims may not report their crime. Source contribution: “We argue that the public’s beliefs about rape determine their reactions to and interpretations of sexual crime.” “In short, public perceptions about rape shape how the US political system deals with sexual violence, including whether or not such cases enter the criminal justice system, and how they are treated once they do so. As a result, the public’s biases critically influence how well the criminal justice system serves rape survivors.” Research direction: New research the source inspires is the influence of media, public opinion, campaigns and protests, and comparative studies on rape culture and sexual crime. New terms: policymakers, rape culture, racial prejudice and rape, socio-sexual behavior, political behavior,

Part 2 – Reflection While reading each of these scholarly sources, I was able to find several connections between each. The two sources that I noticed were the most connected was Source 2, How victim credibility and cooperation influence investigative decision-making: examining DOJ's gender bias principles for investigating domestic and sexual violence and source 5, Rape Myth Acceptance and Other Barriers to Formally Reporting Sexual Assault Among College Students with and Without Sexual Assault Histories. These two sources are connected by examining victim credibility and rape myth acceptance. “ On average, survivors who have chosen to officially report the assault endorse lower levels of rape myth acceptance than non-reporting survivors.” (Lathan et al., 2023) “Yet, no empirical evidence exists to support this assumption, and an unexplained gap exists between the reported low prevalence of myth acceptance among policing professionals and the much larger proportion of cases with officers noting at least one victim credibility problem which, in this study, was 75%.” (Bostaph et al., 2021). Both examine beliefs and assumptions demonstrated by a survivors and law enforcement and how these beliefs affect actions and decisions made by law enforcement. They both dive into rape myth acceptance and victim credibility and how the two correlate. Source 4, An Analysis of Psychological Perceptions of Survivors of Sexual Assault, and source 6, Crime and Punishment in the #MeToo Era: How the Public Views Rape, are also connected by the examination and discussion of public interpretation of rape and survivors of sexual assault. “Reporting the assault to the police is often not less than a daring act on the part of survivor and their family members as this invariably results in bringing the matter to the public eye, which is misogynistic and perceived to cause ‘social degradation’ and ‘loss of reputation of the family’ as far as the public is concerned.” (Murmu et al., 2023) and “We argue that the public’s beliefs about rape determine their reactions to and interpretations of sexual crime.” (Schwarz et al., 2022). Both examine the influence of public perceptions and beliefs on an individual’s experience and decision making with sexual assault cases and rape. These sources shape my current research question by backing up how the public’s ability to judge a victim’s credibility affects their decision making on reporting crime or getting proper treatment. All six of these sources bring new insight that furthers my research question. I see several of connection between these sources and sources available on public websites. I see more of a difference with the scholarly sources because they provide more insight and experimental studies compared to those available on public websites. The audience and purpose is more direct and meant to bring more awareness to the treatment of survivors and rape myth acceptance. I did not see any different key terms.