Reassessing the Stranger/Nonstranger Dichotomy in Sexual Assault Cases: A Focal Concerns Analysis of the Decision to Arrest and Prosecute

• In Event: Investigating and Prosecuting Sexual Assault

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between victim-offender typologies and sexual assault case processing outcomes. Using data from 650 sexual assault complaints to the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department in 2008, this study seeks to understand if various types of the victim-offender relationship is associated with differential case processing outcomes. Guided by a focal concerns perspective, the current study explores the relationship between strangers, acquaintances, intimate partners, and victims of authority figures, and legal (eg., case specific) and extralegal (eg., victim and suspect characteristics) variables. This study seeks to understand if the composition of the victim-offender relationship affects the police decision to arrest the suspect(s), and the prosecutor decision to file charges. Implications for sexual assault reporting by sexual assault victims are discussed.

Author

• Norah Ylang, Arizona State University