Linda A. Foley

The Impact of Past Sexual Experiences on Attributions of Responsibility for Rape

Two factors potentially affect observers’attributions of responsibility to a rape survivor: how closely they identify with the survivor and how much they adhere to rape myths. To assess the impact of these factors, 157 female college students categorized by their sexual assault history and by their acceptance of rape myths, evaluateda sexual assault scenario. It was hypothesized that previously victimized participants would attribute less blame, and that those participants who self-identify as rape survivors would view the assault as rape more often than other participants. Neither hypothesis was supported. As expected, those who scored higher on the Rape Myths Acceptance Scale(RMAS) blamed the victim more and were less likely to believe rape had occurred. Only one subscale of the RMAS, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, was consistently associated with participants’evaluation of the scenario, suggesting that this dimension may be especially important to understanding an observer’s assessment of rape.

Perceptions of insanity based on occupation of defendant and seriousness of crime.

The purpose was to estimate the relationship between a defendants stated intelligence on perceptions of his sanity and responsibility. This analog study was a 2 (occupation of defendant) × 2 (seriousness of outcome) between-subjects design. A scenario involving an insanity defense was read by 190 college students who then answered a 12-item questionnaire. The hypothesis that participants would attribute less responsibility to less intelligent defendants than to more intelligent ones was partially supported. Belief in a Just World moderated these evaluations. Seriousness of outcome influenced mens perceptions of the defendants insanity, responsibility, and sentence, but not womens. Participants seemed to be more willing to accept the possibility that the defendant was insane if the outcome of his crime was not serious.

Personality Characteristics and Interracial Contact as Determinants of Black Prejudice Toward Whites

The purpose of this study is to determine how interracial contact affects the attitudes of Blacks toward Whites. The study also delineates the personality characteristics predictive ofprejudice and prejudice changes, and how these characteristics differ between Blacks and Whites. The subjects were 112 male inmates (63 Blacks and 49 Whites) newly admitted to a medium security state correctional institution. Over a period of 1 month every new inmate was requested to answer a series of questionnaires to assess his cognitive complexity, self-esteem, attitudes toward people, and prejudice. Three weeks after his first session each subject was requested to respond to a second measure of prejudice. The data indicate that initially Whites were much more prejudiced than Blacks. The contact situation increased prejudice in Blacks and decreased prejudice in Whites. Within each group positive attitudes toward people in general predicted a decrease in prejudice. This was the only variable which functioned the same for both races. Simple cognitive structure, highly predictive of prejudice in Whites, is predictive of a very low level of prejudice in Blacks. Low self-esteem predicted a decrease in prejudice in Whites but an increase in prejudice in Blacks. Implementation of contact situations without adequate insight into the effects on both races is cautioned against.

Conflict resolution a pre-trial intervention

Parties involved in interpersonal disputes often use the Criminal Justice System as a medium of retaliation. This study analyzed the effectiveness of a Citizens’ Dispute Settlement Program as an alternative to criminal prosecution. The program consists of trained volunteer hearing officers mediating between the complainant and the defendant in order to resolve the conflict without court involvement. All hearings scheduled over a six month period were studied (N-264). The hearings were categorized according to type of offense and were analyzed to determine the race and sex of the parties involved, and the effectiveness of conflict resolution efforts in each category. In general, there was no significant relationship between race and being a party in conflict. However, there was a highly significant relationship as to sex, with the majority of complainants being female, and the majority of the respondents being male. Of the scheduled hearings, 93.5% (N-247) were diverted from the court system, for an estimated savings of

Blacks' and Whites' Perceptions of Interracial and Intraracial Date Rape

80,522. The authors concluded that a Citizens’ Dispute Settlement Program, through the pretrial intervention of conflict resolution efforts, provides an effective means of alleviating the congestion in our courts.