NCJ Number
186389
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 28 Issue: 5 Dated: September/October 2000 Pages: 435-449
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
2000
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This survey examined correctional officer definitions of male rape in prison and explored whether a number of factors, including victim blaming, affected correctional officer definitions of male rape.
Abstract
Survey forms were administered to correctional officers employed by a correctional department in a mid-western rural State in 1991. Of 391 survey forms distributed, 209 were returned for a response rate of 53 percent. Descriptive data indicated correctional officers were relatively liberal in their definitions of male rape. Most correctional officers believed an inmate had been raped when he was physically overpowered or threatened with bodily harm. However, correctional officers were less sure when coercion was used to accomplish rape. About 74 percent of correctional officers believed it was rape when an inmate threatened to identify another inmate as a snitch in order to secure sexual acts. Likewise, most correctional officers defined the situation as rape when an inmate was forced to choose between paying off a debt with sexual acts or receiving a beating. Correctional officers appeared to be less willing to define acts as rape when victims were identified as informants, and most correctional officers appeared to be reluctant to blame the victim. An appendix contains the survey items. 73 references, 11 notes, 3 tables, and 2 figures