NCJ Number
62469
Date Published
1979
Length
22 pages
Annotation
THIS PROFILE OF THE UNDETECTED RAPIST ANALYZES INFORMATION GAINED FROM ANONYMOUS TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS DIFFER MARKEDLY FROM OTHER AMERICAN MALES. DIFFER MARKEDLY FROM OTHER AMERICAN MALES.
Abstract
THE STUDY FOCUSED ON MALES WHO HAD RAPED WOMEN BUT MANAGED TO AVOID CONTACT WITH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. SUBJECTS WERE MALE RAPISTS RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS FOR THEIR PARTICIPATION IN AN ANONYMOUS TELEPHONE INTERVIEW. OF 182 TELEPHONE CALLS RECEIVED, 55 CALLS LED TO COMPLETE INTERVIEWS OF 30 TO 50 MINUTES CONSISTING OF 122 QUESTIONS OF BASIC DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND ON THE RESPONDENT'S INVOLVEMENT AND EXPERIENCE IN THE RAPE OF WOMEN. FINDINGS SHOWED THAT 74 PERCENT OF THE RESPONDENTS HAD RAPED MORE THAN ONCE; 70 PERCENT WERE 24 YEARS OF AGE OR YOUNGER AT THE TIME OF THEIR FIRST RAPE; 50 PERCENT WERE MARRIED; 58 PERCENT HAD GRADUATED FROM A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY; 72 PERCENT HAD NEVER BEEN ARRESTED. RESPONDENTS DID NOT APPEAR TO HAVE SUFFERED FROM EXTREME SOCIAL DEPRIVATION AND REPRESENTED THE SOCIOECONOMIC SPECTRUM FROM LOWER TO UPPER MIDDLE CLASS SUGGESTING THAT MALES AT ALL LEVELS OF THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE CAN BE INVOLVED IN RAPE. THE DATA ALSO PROVIDED EMPIRICAL SUPPORT FOR THE UNDOCUMENTED FEMINIST CONTENTION THAT AMERICAN CULTURE SOCIALIZES MALES TO BE POTENTIAL RAPISTS. SEVERAL MAJOR IMPLICATIONS EMERGED: (1) THE RAPIST IS MORE LIKE THAN UNLIKE THE MAJORITY OF MALES IN AMERICAN SOCIETY AND (2) BEING A RAPIST IS NOT AN ATTRIBUTE, MANY RAPISTS TEND TO BE MORE NORMAL THAN ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGICALLY. THE OCCURRENCE OF A RAPE MAY BE THE LOGICAL OUTCOME OF A PREVAILING SET OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL NORMS WHICH COMPEL MALES TO BECOME RAPISTS AND WOMEN TO BECOME RAPE VICTIMS. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE GIVEN. THE ARTICLE WAS FIRST PRESENTED AS A PAPER AT THE 1978 MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY ON CRIMINOLOGY. (MJW)