What is Justice? Students' Judgments of Fair and Just Reponses to Campus Sexual Assault

• In Event: Perceptions and Portrayals of Sexual Assault, its Victims, and Just Responses

Abstract

In response to the U.S. Department of Education's 2011 Dear Colleague letter, colleges and universities throughout the country have attempted to revise -- and improve -- their procedures for adjudicating cases of campus sexual assault. Committees of administrators, faculty, legal staff, and student life staff have been appointed to achieve this goal, but there has been little effort to understand how students themselves perceive "justice" in campus sexual assault cases. This presentation will discuss findings from a study that examined students' assessments of fair and just responses to sexual assault scenarios that vary in terms of victim-offender relationship, level of force used, and victim and offender characteristics.

Authors

• Claire Renzetti, University of Kentucky

• Jaspreet Chahal, University of Kentucky

• Caihong Li, University of Kentucky

• Diane Follingstad, University of Kentucky