Crime or consent?
Researching social attitudes towards rape.
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Jennifer Temkin
Professor of Law
The majority of rapes reported to the police do not result in conviction.
Rates of conviction currently stand at only 5.7 per cent, despite a series of legal reforms aimed at improving them. Our work suggests that in order for these figures to improve, and for justice to be better served in rape cases, we must concentrate on the problem of attitudes towards rape and the myths and stereotypes that surround our understanding of it.
Rape ‘myths’ are attitudes and beliefs about rape that are generally false but are accepted by many people. Typical rape myths include, for example, beliefs that true rapes are only ever carried out by strangers; that rape accusations against men known to the victim are usually the result of ‘misunderstandings’, embarrassment or revenge and are therefore not really rape at all; and that a woman’s sexual history, drunkenness or revealing clothes invalidate a complaint.
One of the studies we carried out involved over 2,000 members of the public and was designed to gauge the extent to which attitudes towards rape affect assessments and judgements about rape situations. Most of the participants were UK citizens eligible for jury service. It was found that 44 per cent of participants did subscribe to certain rape myths. All participants were asked to assess a set of written scenarios in which a rape had clearly occurred. We found that the more people believe in rape myths, the more they are inclined to blame the victim and exonerate the perpetrator, even though in all the scenarios the woman made it clear that she did not consent to sex. We also found that, where there was a previous relationship, there is a clear tendency among people in general to blame women who allege rape and to downplay the responsibility of the perpetrator.
In a parallel study, our research showed that prospective lawyers were by no means immune from belief in rape myths. Again it was found that the judgements of those who did believe in rape myths were clearly influenced by their beliefs and attitudes rather than the facts of the case.
As part of a Home Office study, I also conducted interviews with judges and barristers highly experienced in dealing with rape cases. Many of those interviewed considered that rape myths were influential in jury decision-making although they had no desire to change the jury system.
Our research also looks at ways of combating the attitude problem in rape cases including education in schools, media campaigns, assisting the jury to focus on evidence, tightening laws surrounding rape and improving the education of key players in the criminal justice system.
