Policing Sexual Assault in a Victim-Centric Era: A Police Ethnography

• In Event: Roundtable: Sexual Offending, Victimization, and Harassment

Abstract

Sexual assault continues to have low reporting and arrest rates. To address this problem, legislators have continued to implement legal reforms, specifically victim-centric reforms that aim to reduce secondary victimization associated with a victim’s contact with the criminal justice system. These reforms require those who interact with sexual assault victims, namely police officers, do so in a sensitive, non-judgmental manner. It is argued that this approach will facilitate victim participation, increase convictions, and thus protect the public’s safety. The proposed paper will contribute to our understanding of how sexual assault victims are processed and how laws are implemented and understood by those required to respond to sexual assault. An ethnographic approach is being used to explore the law in action as police respond to newly implemented legislation. Participant observation and interviews are being conducted in a police department in a middle-sized city which will provide for a rich and contextualized understanding of police work.

Author

• Stacy Dewald, University of Illinois at Chicago