Myths and legends: the reality of rape offences reported to a UK police force

Waterhouse, Genevieve F.; Reynolds, Ali; Egan, Vincent

Abstract

Rape myths affect many aspects of the investigative and criminal justice systems. One such myth, the‘real rape’ myth, states that most rapes involve a stranger using a weapon attacking a woman violently atnight in an isolated, outdoor area, and that women sustain serious injuries from these attacks. The presentstudy examined how often actual offences reported to a central UK police force over a two year periodmatched the ‘real rape’ myth. Out of 400 cases of rape reported, not a single incident was found withall the characteristics of the ‘real rape’ myth. The few stranger rapes that occurred had a strong link tonight-time economy activities, such as the victim and offender both having visited pubs, bars, and clubs.By contrast, the majority of reported rape offences (280 cases, 70.7%) were committed by people knownto the victim (e.g., domestic and acquaintance rapes), occurred inside a residence, with most victimssustaining no physical injuries from the attack. The benefits of these naturalistic findings from the fieldfor educating people about the inaccuracy of rape myths are discussed.

Citation

Waterhouse, G. F., Reynolds, A., & Egan, V. (2016). Myths and legends: the reality of rape offences reported to a UK police force. European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context, 8(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpal.2015.04.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 22, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 22, 2016
• Journal: European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context
• Electronic ISSN: 1889-1861
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpal.2015.04.001
• Keywords: Rape; Sexual offending; Rape myths; Police reporting; Stranger rape
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/979219
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1889186115000244