Katherine Lorenz

Victim Blaming Others Rape Myth Acceptance and the Just World Belief

Rape myth acceptance which are false beliefs regarding the incidence of sexual assault, and are more prevalent among males, may influence how victims are treated. Acceptance of the just world belief (JWB), which argues that individuals believe that people get what they deserve, may be a predictor of rape myth acceptance. The present study examined the relationship among gender, belief in a just world, and rape myth acceptance. Findings suggest that while gender remained a significant predictor of rape myth acceptance the relationship between just world belief and rape myth acceptance was more complicated than hypothesized. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Enhancing Title Ix Due Process Standards in Campus Sexual Assault Adjudication: Considering the Roles of Distributive, Procedural, and Restorative Justice.

ABSTRACT Title IX prohibits sex discrimination—including sexual assault—in higher education. The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights’ 2011 “Dear Colleague Letter” outlines recommendations for campus sexual assault adjudication allowing a variety of procedures that fail to protect accused students’ due process rights and victims’ rights under Title IX. This article reviews two diminished due process rights in campus adjudication: cross-examination and the preponderance of the evidence standard. We use an organizational justice theoretical framework to show that limitations on due process rights reduce fair outcomes for both victims and the accused. We provide recommendations for a restorative justice approach to campus adjudication that operates within this theoretical framework to increase fair outcomes in adjudication, bolster perceptions of adjudicatory system legitimacy, and reduce campus sexual assault.

Social Reactions to Sexual Assault Disclosure: A Qualitative Study of Informal Support Dyads

This interview study examined 45 informal support dyads where sexual assault was disclosed. Analysis showed social reactions and appraisals of reactions varied by relationship type (family, friend, significant other). Themes identified were role reversal or “parentification” of supporters, reactions of anger and aggression toward perpetrators, supporters using their own trauma experiences to respond to survivors, and reactions of betrayal. Results revealed the potential for identifying relational patterns and dynamics occurring in social reactions through dyadic analysis not otherwise captured by a survivor-only perspective. This approach helps understand and address distinct relationship contexts to improve supporters’ reactions to sexual assault disclosure.

Exploring Correlates of Alcohol-Specific Social Reactions in Alcohol-Involved Sexual Assaults

ABSTRACT This exploratory study examined demographic, assault, and disclosure factors as predictors of survivors’ decisions to disclose preassault alcohol use and social reactions to their preassault alcohol use. Of survivors drinking prior to assault, those with more education and greater alcohol impairment or resistance during assault were more likely to disclose preassault drinking. Of women disclosing preassault drinking, those with more education and more violent assaults received more negative social reactions specific to their preassault drinking. Such negative reactions were more common for those telling parents, police, or medical professionals. Women with less education received more positive and negative social reactions specific to their preassault drinking. Disclosing preassault drinking in greater detail was related to positive social reactions specific to preassault drinking and greater alcohol impairment during assault was associated with both positive and negative social reactions specific to preassault drinking. Implications for research and intervention are provided for survivors disclosing alcohol-related sexual assaults.

Postassault substance use and coping: a qualitative study of sexual assault survivors and informal support providers

ABSTRACT This qualitative interview study examined 45 informal support dyads where a sexual assault was disclosed. Data from matched pairs of survivors and their primary informal support provider (e.g., friend, family, significant other) were used to explore the survivor–support provider (SP) perspectives of coping with assault-related distress via substance use and the effects of survivor substance use on the survivor-SP relationship. Results revealed that survivors’ use of drinking and/or drugs to cope had positive and negative effects on survivor-SP relationships. Findings also showed that SPs play various roles in providing support to survivors who cope via substance use, including engaging in substance use with the survivor and efforts to help get help in their recovery from the assault and substance abuse. Suggestions are made for how safe spaces can be provided where survivors and supporters can get information and treatment, whether formal or informal, that addresses sexual assault, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse issues in an integrated way.

Alcohol’s Role in Social Reactions to Sexual Assault Disclosures: A Qualitative Study of Informal Support Dyads

Studies of informal support dyads are lacking to understand the disclosure of sexual assaults and social reactions informal supporters make to survivors. This study of 19 informal support dyads using interview data examined how three relationship types—significant others (i.e., romantic partners), family, and friends—differ in social reactions to sexual assaults in the context of drinking or alcohol problems. It was expected that alcohol’s role in responses to such disclosures would differ depending on relationship type as well as role alcohol played in the assault and/or in the survivor’s life or those in her social network, including the perpetrator. Results show that alcohol has mixed effects and that alcohol-related assaults as well as contexts where survivors, perpetrators, and/or their support networks have alcohol problems need further study to understand how such disclosures and social reactions occur and the impact they have on survivors, their relationships, and recovery.

Risk Avoidance Strategies After Sexual Assault: A Dyadic Study of Survivors and Informal Support Providers

ABSTRACT Interview data from 45 matched pairs of survivors disclosing sexual assaults and their primary informal support provider (friend, family, significant other) were used to explore survivor-support provider perspectives on self-protective behaviors survivors and those close to them take to protect themselves from future assaults. Strategies for reducing risk taken by survivors included behavioral changes, security measures, self-defense strategies, avoiding alcohol or drugs, and protecting others. Support providers play critical roles by encouraging survivors to pursue risk avoidance strategies, and employing these strategies themselves. Counseling and prevention implications are drawn in the context of risks facing survivors trying to avoid further sexual victimization.

The relationship between victim attitudes, training, and behaviors of sexual assault investigators

Abstract Literature on procedural justice suggests crime victims respond to the quality of treatment received by the police. Investigators who utilize interview techniques that align with tenets of procedural justice may have better overall interactions with victims and elicit better quality investigative information from victims, highlighting the importance of providing sexual assault specific training to police officers and investigators. One barrier to improving interactions are the perceptions police officers have of sexual assault victims. Research is mixed regarding whether training can influence these perceptions, or if training can only change behaviors. However, research regarding sexual assault specific training is limited, particularly for investigators. This study builds upon the current literature by exploring the influence of the receipt of and perceived helpfulness of procedural justice-based training on subsequent utilization of interview techniques that are consistent with the procedural justice perspective, and whether perceptions of victims mediate this relationship. This is tested using secondary analysis of self-report survey data from a sample of Illinois sexual assault investigators (N = 231) utilizing structural equation modeling. Results suggest that procedural justice-based training influences utilization of interview techniques, and that perceptions partially mediate this relationship. Theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.