It’s Not Always the Stranger in a Dark Alley! An Examination of the Role of Victim-Suspect Relationships and Physical Evidence in Sexual Assault Case Charging Decisions

• In Event: Nuanced Factors in Courts: Evidence, Communication, and Gendered Logic

Abstract

The current study uses data on sex crimes reported to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2008, to address the following research questions: How are sexual assault cases prosecuted when the offender is a stranger vs. non-stranger to the victim? Does physical evidence play a role in the charging decisions of stranger vs. non-stranger cases? Data are analyzed using latent class analysis, a statistical technique that identifies groups of shared characteristics and analyzes any patterns that occur among them. For the purpose of this study, relationships and types of physical evidence are explored in relation to how they may be prosecuted differently according to these characteristics.

Authors

• Cheyenne Weaver, Arizona State University

• Shi Yan, Arizona State University