NCJ Number
177260
Date Published
1997
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This videotape is intended to educate police personnel regarding recent research about sexual assault and rapists, the need for awareness about the factors that increase the risk of sexual assault victimization, and the dangers of providing confrontational advice to people regarding how to deal with a rape situation.
Abstract
The speaker is Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Joseph Harpold, a trainer at the FBI Academy. Harpold emphasizes the need to avoid unrealistic expectations regarding sexual assault prevention, to understand the attitudes and behavior patterns of sex offenders, and to avoid the past approach of advising sexual assault victims to resist either aggressively or passively. The varied attitudes and behaviors of rapists and the variations in victims' personalities and capabilities point to the need to avoid specific advice. Prevention is important, but it should occur before the confrontation. Research on serial rapists who raped strangers reveals that these offenders commonly gain access to their victims through unlocked doors. The role of crime prevention professionals is to help people to accept the possibility that victimization can occur, to know that they have options, and to develop a plan. Rapists of strangers can be grouped into two broad categories, each with two subgroups. The largest group consists of power rapists, who use little violence, tend to attack their victims in their homes, and select victims through advance surveillance. Videotaped interview of a serial rapist; offender's videotape of potential victims seen through the windows of their residences; and questions and answers about opportunity, the need to educate men, the use of technology to increase personal security, and other issues