BLACK OFFENDER AND WHITE VICTIM - A STUDY OF FORCIBLE RAPE IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (FROM FORCIBLE RAPE - THE CRIME, THE VICTIM, AND THE OFFENDER, 1977 BY DUNCAN CHAPPELL, ROBLEY GEIS, AND GILBERT GEIS - SEE NCJ-43432)

• NCJ Number: 43436
• Author(s): M W AGOPIAN; D CHAPPELL; G GEIS
• Date Published: 1977
• Length: 13 pages
• Corporate Author: Columbia University Press
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A STATISTICAL STUDY OF INTERRACIAL RAPE RATES SUGGESTS THAT THE DYNAMICS OF INTERRACIAL RAPE MIGHT VARY SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THOSE OF INTRARACIAL RAPE.

Abstract

THE STUDY SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 66 INSTANCES OF INTERRACIAL FORCIBLE RAPE REPORTED TO THE POLICE DURING 1971 IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA. ANALYSIS OF DATA CONCENTRATED ON THE 63 INSTANCES OF BLACK MALE-WHITE FEMALE OFFENSES. OTHER STUDIES ON RACE OF VICTIM AND OFFENDER WERE USED AS BASES OF COMPARISON: A STUDY DONE IN PHILADELPHIA IN THE LATE 1950'S, FOR EXAMPLE, SHOWED A MUCH LOWER INCIDENCE OF BLACK OFFENDER-WHITE VICTIM FORCIBLE RAPE THAN THE 1971 OAKLAND STUDY, A DIFFERENCE WHICH THE AUTHORS ATTRIBUTE TO A TRUE INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT OF THE BEHAVIOR OVER TIME AND NOT TO A FUNCTION OF THE DIFFERENT SITES OR THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR POPULATIONS. ANOTHER DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PHILADELPHIA AND OAKLAND STUDIES INVOLVES THE AGE OF THE BLACK OFFENDER'S VICTIM: IN THE PHILADELPHIA DATA, 44 PERCENT OF THE CASES CHOSE VICTIMS 10 OR MORE YEARS OLDER THAN THEMSELVES, WHILE ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF THE OAKLAND RAPISTS CHOSE A VICTIM IN THE SAME 10-YEAR AGE BRACKET OR YOUNGER. THE OAKLAND DATA TENDED TO CONFIRM EARLIER RESEARCH FINDINGS WHICH STATED THAT WARM WEARTHER MONTHS ARE THE HIGH SEASON FOR THE OFFENSE OF RAPE. A RELATIONSHIP WAS ALSO SEEN BETWEEN AGE OF THE OFFENDER AND SEASON OF THE YEAR, WHICH INDICATES THAT SCHOOL VACATIONS AND SEASONAL EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS MIGHT HAVE SOME CORRELATION WITH THE TIME OF YEAR DURING WHICH A RAPE OCCURS. THE MID-WEEK PERIOD SHOWED THE HIGHEST INCIDENCE OF INTERRACIAL FORCIBLE RAPE, AND 40 PERCENT OF THE OFFENSES TOOK PLACE IN NONRESIDENTIAL SETTINGS (NOT INCLUDING AUTOMOBILES, WHICH ACCOUNTED FOR AN ADDITIONAL 22 PERCENT OF THE CASES). MULTIPLE OFFENDER OR GROUP RAPES WERE CONSIDERABLY RARER IN THE OAKLAND SAMPLE THAN IN OTHER SURVEYS. PRIOR RELATIONSHIP, IF ANY, BETWEEN THE OFFENDER AND THE VICTIM PROVED TO BE SLIGHT, A FINDING WHICH IS STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT FROM THAT REPORTED IN OTHER STUDIES IN REGARD TO INTERRACIAL RAPE. AS 90 PERCENT OF THE VICTIMS AND OFFENDERS WERE UNKNOWN TO EACH OTHER BEFORE THE RAPE, INTERRACIAL RAPE IN OAKLAND IS SHOWN TO BE PRIMARILY A STRANGERTO-STRANGER CRIME. THE SOCIAL INTERACTION DATA RELATED TO INTRARACIAL RAPE (I.E., VICTIM AND OFFENDER DRINKING AT A BAR TOGETHER) DO NOT APPLY FOR INTERRACIAL RAPE: THE CROSSING OF INTERRACIAL BOUNDARIES TAKES PLACE AT THOSE POINTS AT WHICH THE VICTIM IS MOST READILY AVAILABLE AND VULNERABLE. THE VARIATIONS AMONG FINDINGS IN INTERRACIAL RAPE STUDIES MAY BE EXPLAINED BY DIFFERENCES IN POLICE REPORTING AND RECORDING, POLICECOMMUNIT RELATIONS, DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS, AND RACE RELATIONS. REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED.