After sexual assaults, victims face many decisions regarding disclosure and reporting. Most research identifying risk factors for poor health among sexual assault victims, including assault typology, prior victimization, and substance use, does little to contextualize decision-making and reflective framing among sexual assault victims. Yet the real or perceived reactions of friends, family, and law enforcement can have a lot to do with how victims come to view their decisions in hindsight. The concordance between their decisions immediately following the assault and the decisions they wish they had made in retrospect can have substantial implications for mental health and well-being. Using a national sample of women (n=962), the current study examines the situational influences on victim reporting and sexual assault disclosure. I then explore how these factors affect the concordance between victims' post-assault actions and retrospective approval of those decisions, and assess the potential link between victim retrospective approval and mental health. Finally, I discuss the results and the implications of these findings for broader conversations about victims, services, post-traumatic growth and closure.

Analyzing the findings of 20 studies, involving more than 5,000 people, this book explores the decision making process of the crime victim in the immediate aftermath of victimization. Using a broad range of innovative research techniques, the authors assess the effects of rape, robbery, burglary, and theft on individuals from diverse nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. This work will be of value to people who work directly with crime victims, and to researchers who are interested in the process of decision making under stressful circumstances.

Sexual assault, which includes all types of unwanted coerced or forced sexual behavior, is a prevalent issue among college women. Rape, considered the most serious form of sexual assault (McMahon, 2011), is defined as oral, vaginal, or anal penetration performed against one's will by force, the threat of force, or when a person is unable to give consent (Koss & Gidycz, 1985). It is estimated that up to one in four undergraduate women will experience an attempted or completed rape during her college career (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000). The potential adverse consequences for college women who are sexually assaulted include symptoms of PTSD and depression, heavy drinking, impaired academic performance, and increased risk of sexual re-victimization. Women who are sexually assaulted once during college report being sexually re-assaulted three more times on average (Katz et al., 2010). College sexual assault survivors run a high risk of re-victimization both because they engage in more risky behaviors and because they are less likely to effectively resist a sexual assault attempt. Yet, the interactions of the underlying risk factors are not well-understood and have not been examined in relation to one another. This thesis analyzed sexual assault risk perception and sexual assault resistance self-efficacy with regard to the interactions of victim status, symptoms of PTSD and depression, frequent drinking, and risky sex. I also sought to further understand sexual re-victimization within the college population, so that tertiary treatment and risk reduction tactics can better target the specific needs of survivors. Participants included 1,955 ethnically diverse undergraduate women, 366 of whom endorsed a rape history. They completed an online survey of their experiences of adolescent and adult rape, mental health symptoms, drinking frequency, risky sexual behaviors, sexual assault risk perception, and sexual assault resistance self-efficacy, as part of a larger study. Through a series of independent samples t-tests and linear regressions, relationships among victim status, mental health symptoms, drinking frequency, and risky sex behaviors were examined. Significant differences arose between rape survivors and non-victims. While rape survivors perceived situations as riskier for sexual assault than non-victims, they also reported less sexual assault resistance self-efficacy. Frequent drinkers perceived more sexual assault risk than non-frequent drinkers, and those survivors who reported more PTSD symptoms or engaged in more risky sex perceived greater risk for sexual assault. Sexual assault resistance self-efficacy was lowest among those who frequently drank and those with depressive symptoms. In fact, depressive symptoms had a greater effect on reducing moderately assertive resistance self-efficacy among survivors than among non-victims. Among rape survivors, depressive symptoms were more strongly associated with reduced assertive resistance self-efficacy for those who frequently drank than those who did not. Re-victimization, therefore, may be best prevented on the individual level by treating rape survivors for PTSD, depressive symptoms, and problematic drinking. On a broader level, implementing bystander interventions to change cultural norms may help reduce overall risk of sexual assault.

This timely handbook provides in-depth overviews of the myriad and multi-faceted issues surrounding sexual assault and its pervasiveness in today’s culture. Drawing for multiple viewpoints and experts, the book is divided into seven comprehensive sections, covering such topics as risk factors, varying theoretical frameworks, prevention and intervention, and special populations. Within these sections the authors provide historical background as well as the latest research, and offer treatment outcomes and potentials.Selected topics covered in this book include: Feminist theories of sexual assault Social and economic factors surrounding sexual violence Mental, physiological, physical, and functional health concerns of victims, including PTSD Major categories of sexual offenders Treatment of sexual assault survivors in the LGBTQ+ community Procedural processes related to sexual assault investigation and adjudication within the criminal justice system The Handbook of Sexual Assault and Sexual Assault Prevention is a vital book that will appeal to a broad spectrum of students, researchers, practitioners, and clinicians in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, community mental health, and sociology.

Violence against women is a global problem and despite a wealth of knowledge and inspiring action around the globe, it continues unabated. Bringing together the very best in international scholarship with a rich variety of pedagogical features, this innovative new textbook on violence against women is specifically designed to provoke debate, interrogate assumptions and encourage critical thinking about this global issue. This book presents a range of critical reflections on the strengths and limitations of responses to violent crimes against women and how they have evolved to date. Each section is introduced with an overview of a particular topic by an expert in the field, followed by thoughtful reflections by researchers, practitioners, or advocates that incorporate new research findings, a new initiative, or innovative ideas for reform. Themes covered include: advances in measurement of violence against women, justice system responses to intimate partner violence and sexual assault, victim crisis and advocacy, behaviour change programs for abusers, and prevention of violence against women. Each section is supplemented with learning objectives, critical thinking questions and lists of further reading and resources to encourage discussion and to help students to appreciate the contested nature of policy. The innovative structure will bring debate alive in the classroom or seminar and makes the book perfect reading for courses on violence against women, gender and crime, victimology, and crime prevention.

"Sexual assault continues to be a pervasive problem, both for society in general and within the military community. To assist the Air Force in its continued efforts to combat sexual assault within its ranks, we reviewed the existing empirical literature on the characteristics and behaviors of adult perpetrators who commit sexual assault against other adults. Our search was not limited to studies of military populations. While a vast majority of the existing literature has focused on sole male perpetrators who assault female victims, we identified some research on other types of perpetrators, including female sexual assault perpetrators, men who perpetrate assault against other men, and perpetrators who participate in group sexual assault. This body of research indicates that adult perpetrators are diverse in terms of their demographics, background characteristics, and motivations. Moreover, research indicates that sexual assault perpetration is likely influenced by a combination of factors, including an individual's developmental and family history; his or her personality, including attitudes/cognitions; and environmental factors, including peer attitudes and alcohol consumption. The complexity of factors that influence sexual assault perpetration and the multiple pathways that lead to an attack make it difficult to predict whether an individual is prone to commit sexual assault. While predicting sexual assault perpetration is problematic, we identified a number of factors related to perpetration that may be relevant for intervention efforts and offer recommendations for the Air Force"--Publisher's web site.

This edited text draws together the insights of numerous worldwide eminent academics to evaluate the condition of predictive policing and artificial intelligence (AI) as interlocked policy areas. Predictive and AI technologies are growing in prominence and at an unprecedented rate. Powerful digital crime mapping tools are being used to identify crime hotspots in real-time, as pattern-matching and search algorithms are sorting through huge police databases populated by growing volumes of data in an eff ort to identify people liable to experience (or commit) crime, places likely to host it, and variables associated with its solvability. Facial and vehicle recognition cameras are locating criminals as they move, while police services develop strategies informed by machine learning and other kinds of predictive analytics. Many of these innovations are features of modern policing in the UK, the US and Australia, among other jurisdictions. AI promises to reduce unnecessary labour, speed up various forms of police work, encourage police forces to more efficiently apportion their resources, and enable police officers to prevent crime and protect people from a variety of future harms. However, the promises of predictive and AI technologies and innovations do not always match reality. They often have significant weaknesses, come at a considerable cost and require challenging trade- off s to be made. Focusing on the UK, the US and Australia, this book explores themes of choice architecture, decision- making, human rights, accountability and the rule of law, as well as future uses of AI and predictive technologies in various policing contexts. The text contributes to ongoing debates on the benefits and biases of predictive algorithms, big data sets, machine learning systems, and broader policing strategies and challenges. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars of policing, criminology, crime science, sociology, computer science, cognitive psychology and all those interested in the emergence of AI as a feature of contemporary policing.