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Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault Against Women of Color: Applying Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality Frameworks to Examine Arrest and Charging Decisions in Cases Involving Black and Latina Victims

NCJ Number
307820
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: Online Dated: 2022 Pages: 1-22
Date Published
2022
Length
22 pages
Annotation

This study addresses oversights in previous research by using Critical Race Theory and intersectionality frameworks to examine the case processing of sexual assault (SA) incidents involving Black and Latina victims.

Abstract

Using Critical Race Theory and an intersectional framework, the present study focuses on the case processing of sexual assault (SA) incidents involving Black and Latina victims and addresses oversights in earlier studies. Importantly, much of the prior literature assessing arrest and charging decisions have been whitewashed by failing to consider that the factors influencing the case progression of white victims’ SA experiences may not appropriately apply to women of Color. Oftentimes, this scholarship merely controls for victim and suspect race without considering how legal and extralegal incident and case factors may operate differently for victims of Color. (Published Abstract Provided)

Date Published: January 1, 2022