NCJ Number
101560
Date Published
1974
Length
303 pages
Annotation
Interviews with 90 rape victims in California explore rape circumstances, victim-offender relationships, victim-offender racial dynamics, victimization effects, victim interaction with the criminal justice system, rape reporting, rape causes, rape prevention, and rapist profiles.
Abstract
Transcripts of the interviews include both interviewer questions and verbatim victim responses. Questions cover the circumstances of the rape or attempted rape; victim-offender interaction; victim feelings during and after the rape; and whether the victim reported the rape to police and, if so, how the victim was treated by medical personnel, police, and other criminal justice personnel. Author comments at the end of interview transcripts draw conclusions about how offenders view victims, victim reactions, and societal attitudes toward rape. Particular chapters focus on interviews that deal with the dimensions of interracial rapes and rapes perpetrated by husbands, lovers, friends, and relatives. Rape is also examined as a symptom of society's views of male and female social and sexual roles. Rape prevention suggestions cover self-defense, resistance, action groups, rape crisis centers, neighborhood organizations, weapons control, and the elimination of sexism from laws and the legal system. The appendix contains a publication that explains rape prevention tactics and advises action for rape victims. 104-item bibliography.