The Impact of Detectives’ Manner of Questioning on Rape Victims’ Disclosure

Research has documented that few reported rapes are prosecuted by the legal system. The purpose of this study is to explain how the interactions between victims and detectives can strengthen or weaken the investigation itself. Twenty rape victims were interviewed to examine how law enforcement detectives’ manner of questioning affects rape victims’ level of disclosure. Using qualitative methodology, the results show that the detectives’ manner of questioning can play a role in victims’ disclosure. Detectives using a gentle manner of questioning with victims can help produce stronger victim statements and thus build stronger cases for prosecution.

[1]  H. H. Filipas,et al.  Social reactions to sexual assault victims from various support sources. , 2001, Violence and victims.

[2]  M. Patton.  Qualitative research and evaluation methods , 1980 .

[3]  A. Konradi,et al.  Taking the Stand: Rape Survivors and the Prosecution of Rapists , 2007 .

[4]  R. Campbell.  Rape Survivors' Experiences With the Legal and Medical Systems , 2006, Violence against women.

[5]  H. Starks,et al.  Choose Your Method: A Comparison of Phenomenology, Discourse Analysis, and Grounded Theory , 2007, Qualitative health research.

[6]  Rebecca Campbell,et al.  What really happened? A validation study of rape survivors' help-seeking experiences with the legal and medical systems. , 2005, Violence and victims.

[7]  Cassia Spohn,et al.  The effect of evidence factors and victim characteristics on prosecutors' charging decisions in sexual assault cases , 1997 .

[8]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[9]  Rebecca Campbell,et al.  Doing Community Research Without a Community: Creating Safe Space for Rape Survivors , 2004, American journal of community psychology.

[10]  R. Fisher.  INTERVIEWING VICTIMS AND WITNESSES OF CRIME , 1995 .

[11]  Colin Sharp.  Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (3rd ed.) , 2003 .

[12]  E. Brink,et al.  Constructing grounded theory : A practical guide through qualitative analysis , 2006 .

[13]  P. Y. Martin.  Rape Work: Victims, Gender, and Emotions in Organization and Community Context , 2005 .

[14]  Sharon M. Wasco,et al.  Preventing the “Second Rape” , 2001 .

[15]  Lisa Frohmann,et al.  Discrediting Victims' Allegations of Sexual Assault: Prosecutorial Accounts of Case Rejections , 1991 .

[16]  Cassia Spohn,et al.  Prosecutorial justifications for sexual assault case rejection: Guarding the "gateway to justice" , 2001 .

[17]  R. Campbell.  The Community Response to Rape: Victims' Experiences with the Legal, Medical, and Mental Health Systems , 1998, American journal of community psychology.

[18]  M. Frank,et al.  The Effect of Rapport in Forensic Interviewing , 2002 .

[19]  R. Bachman,et al.  The Factors Related to Rape Reporting Behavior and Arrest , 1998 .

[20]  Pamela Jordan.  Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques , 1994 .

[21]  P. Frazier,et al.  Sexual assault cases in the legal system: Police, prosecutor, and victim perspectives , 1996 .

[22]  WAYNE A. KERSTETTER,et al.  Who Decides? , 1990 .

[23]  A. Giardino,et al.  Sexual assault : victimization across the life span , 2003 .

[24]  K. Bletzer,et al.  After-Rape Among Three Populations in the Southwest , 2006, Violence against women.

[25]  Lisa Frohmann.  Constituting Power in Sexual Assault Cases: Prosecutorial Strategies for Victim Management , 1998 .

[26]  J. Creswell.  Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five traditions. , 1998 .

[27]  L. Fitzgerald,et al.  Police Training in Sexual Assault Response , 2001 .

[28]  R. Campbell,et al.  Understanding rape survivors' decisions not to seek help from formal social systems. , 2009, Health & social work.

[29]  M. Reynolds,et al.  The Experience of Sexual Assault , 2005, Journal of interpersonal violence.

[30]  Judith Lewis Herman,et al.  Trauma and Recovery , 2015 .

[31]  Rebecca Campbell,et al.  The Sexual Assault and Secondary Victimization of Female Veterans: Help-Seeking Experiences with Military and Civilian Social Systems , 2005 .

[32]  Wayne A. Kerstetter.  Gateway to Justice: Police and Prosecutorial Response to Sexual Assaults against Women , 1990 .

[33]  C. Spohn,et al.  The genuine victim and prosecutors’ charging decisions in sexual assault cases , 1996 .