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Attitudes of Police Officers Toward Victims of Crime

NCJ Number
217684
Journal
Revija za Kriminalistiko in Kriminologijo Volume: 57 Issue: 4 Dated: October-December 2006 Pages: 307-316
Author(s)
Igor Areh; Peter Umek; Gorazd Mesko; Aleksander Jevsek
Date Published
October 2006
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This Slovenian study examined police officers' attribution of guilt to a fictitious woman presented as a victim of three types of criminal offenses (a stranger rape, husband rape, and a burglary) as well as a situation in which the woman had not been victimized.
Abstract
Police officers, regardless of gender, attributed the highest degree of guilt to a victim who had been raped by her husband. In all of the victimization scenarios, female officers showed less empathy than male officers; however, they tended to be more protective of the victim than were the male officers. The study analyzed the responses of 1,000 male and female police officers. For the various types of victimization scenarios, police officers' responses were examined for empathy, attributions of guilt to the victim, and denial of victim's guilt. 4 tables and 16 references