Perceived Credibility of Rape Victims During a Police Interview: An Experiment Among Victim Assistance Workers (From Psychology, Law, and Criminal Justice: International Developments in Research and Practice, P 3-12, 1996, Graham Davies, Sally Lloyd-Bostock, et al., eds. - See NCJ-171507)

• NCJ Number: 171508
• Author(s): F W Winkel; S de Winter
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Walter de Gruyter & Co
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Germany (Unified)

Annotation

This study considers in detail the relation between the perceived credibility of a rape victim and two victim-related features and various observer-related features.

Abstract

Disclosure of a criminal incident by the victim to others sometimes constitutes a stress-inducing experience in itself. Victims are at risk of secondary victimization, of psychological harm resulting from inappropriate responses from potential helping resources such as friends, relatives, victim assistance workers, police officers, or criminal justice personnel. Inadequate responding to crime victims might also be the result of biases in the process of forming impressions of victims, and biases in the process of making judgments about their statements. Researchers report empirical evidence that many types of irrelevant (victim-, offender-, crime situation-, or observer-related) features may inadvertently have a negative impact on the perceived credibility of victims. This study considers the relation between the perceived credibility of a rape victim and two victim-related features -- the victim's skin color and her ethnically determined nonverbal behavior during an interview -- and various observer-related features. Tables, references