Chapter 6 Flashcards
Rape is more than an act of violence- what type of crime is it?
> it is also a violation of the most intimate sort and strikes at our identities as women and men. In many ways, it is the ultimate assaultive crime
Rape is also a crime that is subject to more what?
> misunderstanding than most.
What are some misunderstandings about rape?
> we tend to perceive it solely as having female victims, but the reality is that although females represent the majority of rape victims and males represent the majority of rape offenders, both males and females are capable of being both victims and offenders.
> In addition, despite the myth that the majority of rapes are perpetrated by strangers, rape in the United States is most likely to be perpetrated by people the victim knows.
Because of the misunderstandings around rape, what do the state statues now consider about them?
> now considered gender and relationship neutral.
What is the definition of rape as proposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)?
> Rape is defined as any completed or attempted unwanted vaginal (for women), oral, or anal penetration through the use of physical force (such as being pinned or held down, or by the use of violence) or threats to physically harm
> includes times when the victim was drunk, high, drugged, or passed out and unable to consent.
What are the three categories of rape as per the CDC?
1) completed forced penetration,
2) attempted forced penetration
3) and completed alcohol or drug facilitated penetration.
What is rape among women as per the CDC?
> Among women, rape includes vaginal, oral, or anal penetration by a male using his penis.
> It also includes vaginal or anal penetration by a male or female using their fingers or an object.
What is rape among men as per the CDC?
> Among men, rape includes oral or anal penetration by a male using his penis.
> It also includes anal penetration by a male or female using their fingers or an object.
What type of violence is the least reported?
> rape and sexual assault remains the least likely form of violence to be reported to police
Similar to information on forms of violence perpetrated in the home, the most reliable information on rape victimization—imperfect and incomplete as it is, is collected from where?
> comprises the data obtained from social scientific surveys.
The only survey that monitors rape and sexual assault on an annual basis is what survey?
> is the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).
What is a downfall of the NCVS?
> the questions used to uncover rape are probably the least behaviorally specific.
What are the issues with surveys about rape? How could this problem be avoided?
> The word rape itself has a variety of meanings that are used differently, depending upon the situation and the individuals involved.
> these types of questions about rape are prone to a great deal of underreporting.
> In order to avoid this problem behaviorally specific questions need to be asked
Which study began to use behaviourally specific questions?
> a study by Mary Koss
> examined the rape victimization experiences of college women (how they used specific questions)
Are estimates of rape higher in the NISVS than those of the NCVS? If so why might they be higher?
> Yes- they are higher because they use behaviourally specific questions - not vague questions
> the NISVS is introduced to respondents as a survey about issues of health and relationships, unlike the NCVS, which is introduced to respondents as a survey about crime.
According to the NCVS, how have the rates of rape changed? Approximately how many people aged 12+ were rape/SA victims in 2018?
> has not changed much over time
> approximately 734,630 people aged 12 and older were victims of rape and sexual assault in 2018.
Have the majority of victimizations reported to NCVS interviewers been reported to the police? How many in 10 are?
> The majority of victimizations reported to NCVS interviewers were never reported to police.
> In fact, fewer than 3 in 10 victimizations, according to the NCVS, are ever reported to police.
What are the NISVS estimates of rape? (What age group do they survey?) is this higher than the estimate provided by the NCVS?
> interviews men and women aged 18 and older only,
> estimates that approximately 1,270,000 people are raped annually.
> much higher than the NCVS
Unfortunately, the only estimates of rape and sexual assault available at most local levels, including state and city levels, are from what kind of reports?
> are from the less-reliable police reports.
Why do victims fear reporting? (Provide 5 reasons)
> the personal nature of the victimization,
> fear of retaliation from the offender,
> and the treatment they expect to receive from the media and the criminal justice system
> fear they won’t be believed by police
> fear a sense of shame.
As we noted in the beginning of the chapter, females experience much higher rates of rape compared with males. According to the NISVS, what are the annual and lifetime rates? Compare the lifetime rates for men and women.
> 1% of adult women in the United States are raped every year = more than 1.2 million women annually.
> Over 18% of women have been raped in their lifetimes compared to just over 1% of men.
Are the risks for rape distributed equally across ethnicities? Which race experiences the highest risk and what does this risk translate to when measured in 1 in 4 and when did these rapes happen?
INCLUDE THE OTHER RATES FOR THE OTHER RACES (PLEASE EDIT)
> are not distributed equally.
> American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AIAN) are much more likely to be raped in their lifetimes
> In fact, over one in four AIAN women have been raped in their lives *The majority of rapes occurred when the victims were under 25 years of age, and nearly half occurred before age 18.
Do most countires have national surveys for rape? If not- what data is used? Should there be national comparisons for rape (what do scholars think?)
> No most countries do not have a national survey that measures rape victimizations
> because of this, only police data can be relied upon.
> many scholars warn against making comparisons of rape rates across countries because police procedures and legal definitions of rape vary so widely
Relying on police reports for rape data is even more problematic in certain cultures, including predominately what two cultures? Why is it problematic for these two?
> Islamic or Hindu cultures
> problematic = victims are often publicly shamed and are therefore unlikely to report their victimizations to police.