NCJ Number
103785
Journal
Indian Journal of Criminology Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Dated: (July 1986) Pages: 119-124
Date Published
1986
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Interviews were conducted with 80 Indian women who received medicolegal examinations in connection with rape between 1982 and 1984.
Abstract
Emphasis was placed on the contribution of sociocultural devaluation of women both on the rape and its sequelae. Of the victims, 50 were unmarried adolescents and 30 were married women. In only nine cases was there no history of prior acquaintance with the rapist. In 25 cases, the rape occurred under threat, forceful detention, and against the conscious wish of the victim. In these cases, the offenders intent was agressive criminal, in which the rape was done with harmful intent and often in conjunction with violence or larceny. There were 20 cases in which there was legal hesitation in adjudicating the incident because the victim admitted to surrendering to the rapist as a final coping strategy for prerape stress factors. Finally, there were 35 unmarried adolescents who admitted to playing the role of sophisticated instigator and who had a history of prior sex play with the offender. In these cases, no signs of severe postrape injury were found in the medicolegal examination, although victims did show signs of severe postrape psychological trauma. Results suggest that rapists may be classified on the basis of intent: the criminal-aggressive, who is fully aware of his harmful intent; the sadist-sex pervert, whose motivation involves a need to humiliate and injure; and the explosive-release type, whose behavior is associated with traditional notions of male aggressiveness and female servility. 1 table and 11 references.