by MS Morabito — Project Overview: Should be placed at each participant’s seat prior to the beginning of the focus group. (Yellow). (svca flyer.pdf).
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The author(s) shown below used Federal funding provided by the U.S. Department of Justice to prepare the following re source : Document Title: Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases: Replication Research on Sexual Violence Case Attrition in the U.S. Author(s): Melissa S. Morabito, Linda M. Williams, April Pattavina Document Number: 252689 Date Received: Febr uary 2019 Award Number: 2012 -IJ -CX-0052 This resource has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. Th is resource is being made publically available through the Office of Justice Programs™ National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases: Replication Research on Sexual Violence Case Attrition in the U.S. Melissa S. Morabito University of Massachusetts Lowell School of Criminology & Justice Studies 113 Wilder Street Lowell, MA 01854 (p) 978-934-4256 Melissa_morabito@uml.edu Linda M. Williams Wellesley Centers for Women Wellesley College 106 Central Street Wellesley, MA 02481 (p) 781-283-2498 linda.williams@wellesley.edu April Pattavina University of Massachusetts Lowell School of Criminology & Justice Studies 113 Wilder Street Lowell, MA 01854 (p) 978-934-4145 april_pattavina@uml.edu This project was supported by Award No. 2012- IJ-CX-0052 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice to the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice Abstract Decision-Making in Sexual Assault Cases: Multi-site Replication Research on We report findings from a multi-site study of sexual violence case attrition in the U.S. –a replication and extension of work conducted by researchers in Los Angeles. The attrition of sexual assault cases from the criminal justice system has been a concern to victims, practitioners and researchers for the last forty years. Some of the barriers come from police discouraging victims from filing a report while other problems result from prosecutors reluctant to prosecute cases. A growing body of research suggests that there is still much that can be done to support victims and to assure that the role of extra-legal factors in case attrition is minimized. Spohn and Tellis (2012a) study made an important contribution to our understanding of the factors that explain sexual violence (SV) case attrition at the policing and prosecutorial stages, however their findings were specific to agencies in LA County. Thus there was a need to examine case processing in other jurisdictions to understand more about factors predictive of attrition. Our research is a multi-site replication designed to consider individual, locale, and community characteristics; victim advocacy; and police and prosecutorial responses. This research relied on a mixed methods approach using quantitative and qualitative data to uncover and interpret patterns in the attrition of sexual assault cases. In six jurisdictions we tracked reports of rape and attempted rape cases and documented the flow of reports through each stage; analyzing detailed case records to understand the dynamics including victim, offender and case characteristics associated with attrition; and conducting interviews and focus groups with key personnel: police, prosecutors and victim service providers. Between 2008-2010, 3269 complaints of sexual assault were reported to one of the six jurisdictions in our sample 1. For this replication study we report results on case attrition for the 2887 female victims who reported sexual assault. 1404 (48.6%) of cases were cleared by the police; 544 (18.8%) were cleared by arrest; 860 (29.8%) were exceptionally cleared; 1215 (42.1%) were listed as open/inactive; and 56 (1.9%) were listed as investigation continuing. 212 cases (7.3%) were unfounded by the police. Of the 544 adults arrested, charges were filed in 363 (72%); declined in 115 (22.8%). In cases with charges filed, 189 (53.4%) ended in a guilty verdict; 152 (81%) of guilty verdicts were the product of a plea bargain; 7 (3.7%) involved a guilty finding by a judge and 25 (13.2%) involved a guilty finding by a jury. In 11 cases, a jury acqu itted the defendant following a trial. Only 45 (1.6%) of cases reported to the police during across all 6 sites were tried in court. Multivariate analyses predicting arrest show that legal or evidentiary factors are significant predictors of arrest and that the effects of case characteristics are independent of jurisdiction type. A cooperative victim was the strongest predictor of arrest across all jurisdictions. Medium and large jurisdiction results show that questions related to victim credibility reduced the likelihood of arrest although the type of credibility indicators varied. Race was a significant predictor only for small sites with higher odds of arrest for incidents involving black victims. Notably we found that extra-legal factors significantly predicted arrest and were often those that challenge the credibility of the victim, in contrast to Spohn and Tellis who found that arrest was unrelated to whether victims had mental the likelihood of arrest. Indicators of victim resistance were predictive of arrest of all relationship types in the replication study in contrast to Spohn and Tellis. Victim cooperation was found to be significant for all relationship types in both studies in predicting arrest. 1 Cases were collected from 2006-2012 in small sites to insure a large enough sample of sexual assault complaints for statistical analysis and comparison to medium and large sites. This number includes cases reported by males; however, our detailed analyses of predictors of attrition relies on the sample of 2887 reports by females because our analyses were a replication o f Spohn and Tellis.
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Table of Contents. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of th e U.S. Department of Justice DECISION MAKING IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES: REPLICATION RESEARCH ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE CASE ATTRITION IN THE U.S. TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary I Section I Introduction 1 Literature Review 1 Police Decision-Making in Cases of Sexual Assault Prosecutorial Decision Making in Cases of Sexual Assault Literature on Clearance of Cases Literature on Victim Cooperation The Relationship Between Police and Prosecutor Case Flow and Management Size of Jurisdiction and Other Organizational Features National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and Clearance by Exceptional Means Research Design and Methods 10 Study Approach Data Collection Methods Data Analysis Section II: Overview of Case Attrition, 2008-2010 16 Summary of Outcomes Detailed Comparison of Our Study Results to the Spohn and Tellis Findings Case Attrition Finding and Comparison to Spohn and Tellis Summary and Conclusions Section III: Case Outcomes for Rape and Attempted Rape, 2008-2010 22 Case Outcomes Victim, Suspect, and Case Characteristics Summary Section IV: Unfounding Sexual Assault . 28 The Use of Unfounding Case Characteristics Section V: The Overuse of the Exceptional Clearance . 31 The Overestimation of the Clearance Rate Case Characteristics Evaluating Exceptional Clearance Qualitative Analysis Section VI: The Correlates of Case Outcomes .. 37 Modeling Case Outcomes The Decision to Arrest the Suspect Analysis of Arrest Outcomes Partitioned by Relationship Type Exceptional Clearance The Decision to Prosecute the Suspect Case Characteristics and Convictions for Cases with Charges Lodged
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Table of Contents. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of th e U.S. Department of Justice Section VII: Interviews with Sexual Assault Investigators Across Sites .. 46 Profile of Detectives Specialized Training Technology Patrol Officers The Initial Interview Working with Sexual Assault Victims Establishing Rapport Uncooperative Victims Patrol and Rapport Victim Credibility Downstream Orientation Drugs and Alcohol False Reporting Challenges to Victims The Investigation Crimes Least Likely to be Prosecuted The Arrest Decision Exceptional Clearance Unfounding Cleared by Other Consultation with Prosecutors Decrease Difficulties for Victims Prevention Summary Section VIII: Interviews with Deputy District Attorneys .. 75 Profile of Prosecutors Focus of the Interview Specialized Training Prosecuting Cases and Working with Victims Challenges for and about the Victim Trauma Related to Multiple Interviews Decision Making Victim Credibility Negotiating and Getting a Guilty Plea Complicating Factors Reducing the Number of Cases Taken Forward Juries and Convictions Special Unit Understanding Attrition Summary Section IX: Victim Services Focus Groups Findings . 97 Themes Identified Individual Focus Community and CJS Focus Societal Education
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Table of Contents. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of th e U.S. Department of Justice Section X: Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 106 Placing our Results in Context Summary of Results Broader Implications Conclusions References .111 Tables and Figures 115 Appendices 148 Appendix A: Case Record Review Data Collection Forms Appendix B: Interview and Focus Group Protocols Appendix C: Reliability Appendix D: Site Profile Chart Appendix E: Glossary
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Executive Summary. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault: A Replication Study in Six Jurisdictions Executive Summary Introduction The problem of sexual assault case attrition persists. For decades, studies have consistently reported that the majority of sexual assault complaints are not reported to the police and those that are reported are unlikely to end in arrest and as a result very unlikely to end in conviction. In 2010, Spohn and Tellis (2012a) were funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to designed to understand better both how the criminal justice system processes sexual assault complaints and where case attrition occurs. Their findings revealed that attrition continues to be a problem and that further investigation into the differences in rates of case attrition across a multitude of jurisdictions was warranted. In 2012, we were funded by NIJ to replicate this study in a sample of six jurisdictions across the country. The main objectives of the study were to: Examine and document the extent of sexual assault case attrition at multiple sites and the factors that influence attrition (e.g., political and geographical location, organizational structures, and operational approaches). Investigate the case complexities and evidentiary factors that impact attrition in sexual assault cases and how they vary across sites. This includes understanding victim recantation, the possibility of false reports and other investigative complexities as well as their effect on officer and district attorney decision making. Explore the case, victim and offender factors associated with police unfounding decisions. and prosecutorial processing. Understand the experiences of survivors with the criminal justice process across multiple sites. Explore and document the experiences of police detectives and district attorneys who investigate and prosecute sexual assault cases across multiple sites. Understand how community characteristics (e.g., ethnic and racial composition of the community; presence of special victims; new immigrant populations) impact patterns of attrition of sexual assault cases? Document the challenges of conducting replication research regarding sexual assault case attrition and demonstrate how replication research be made relevant to the field and be used a starting point for future research including providing a baseline for future studies of changes in the administration of justice (e.g., the new UCR definition) and the impact of these and other innovations and changes on SV case attrition. Our replication did little to allay the concerns that arose from the Spohn and Tellis (2012a, 2012b) findings. We found considerable attrition in the early stages of case processing. Although our site comparisons revealed some interesting differences in case attrition, a consistent finding for all sites was that, only a minority of reports of sexual assaults (less than one in five) were cleared by arrest. In the Los Angeles agencies examined by Spohn and Tellis and in our I
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Executive Summary. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice replication study, at least 30% of cases where it is presumed that probable cause for arrest exists, replication sites had lower rates of clearance by exceptional means than did larger jurisdictions but revealed greater attrition at later stages in the process. While this study identified some key differences in attrition timing across sites, our findings generally revealed significant levels of sexual assault case attrition. Research Design We used a multi-stage purposive sampling framework to select study sites. The approach considered urban, suburban and rural locations and was informed by key police organizational factors, populations served, geographic proximity, quality of prosecution and police records management systems, and, perhaps most important, the cooperation we received from the police and prosecution agencies. We further prioritized agencies that were using automated records management systems and participated in the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). With the assistance of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) we were able to gain the cooperation and participation of six police agencies. Our approach to the sexual assault case process analyses was by design similar to that used by Spohn and Tellis. Using NIBRS definitions of sexual assault, we selected the population of sexual assault cases reported to the police for the years 2008-2010 for each site. Added to these records were agency reports of unfounded sexual assault cases since those were not officially reported to NIBRS. We tracked rape and attempted rape cases, beginning with the initial police incident reports, through the arrest and prosecution stages and concluding with convictions and sentencing outcomes. We documented the flow of these reports through each stage and examined patterns of attrition and the stages at which attrition was likely to occur to compare the results across sites and with the Spohn and Tellis study to identify similarities and differences in case attrition. In each site we obtained detailed case records on the population of reported rape and attempted rape cases (with victims over age 12) to provide in-depth understanding of the dynamics of sexual assault cases reported to each agency including victim, offender and case characteristics. In addition, we conducted interviews, field observations and focus groups with key personnel that allowed us to further examine organizational and cultural dimensions to handling sexual assault cases in order to understand how these factors influenced case outcomes. Main Findings Our replication findings did little to allay the concerns that arose from those of Spohn and Tellis and we identified considerable attrition in the early stages of case processing across all six sites in our sample. Across sites, arrest outcomes were similar, but smaller jurisdictions were more likely to leave cases open and less likely to clear cases than medium or large jurisdictions. Case outcomes in the replication study were more in line with those reported in LAPD than LASD. Although our site comparisons reveal ed some interesting differences in case attrition, a consistent finding for all was that only a minority of reports of sexual assault were cleared by arrest. II
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Executive Summary. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice In the Spohn and Tellis LA study sites and in our replication study, at least 30% of cases presumed to have probable cause for arrest, in fact, did not result in arrest but were Results did vary across jurisdictions. The smallest replication sites (population of about 100,000) had lower rates of clearance by exceptional means than did the larger jurisdictions. The smallest sites had more attrition at later stages in the process (i.e., post arrest) than the larger sites. In the jurisdictions with lower proportions of cases resulting in exceptional clearance, the district attorney declined to file charges in 50% of the cases. The unfounding of cases was relatively rare among all agencies in our sample regardless of agency characteristics. Patterns of Case Attrition Between 2008-2010, 3269 complaints of sexual assault were reported to one of the six jurisdictions in our sample 2. This replication study reports results on case attrition for the 2887 female victims who reported sexual assault. Of 2887 cases, 1404 (48.6%) of cases were cleared by the police. Of all cases, 544 (18.8%) of cases were cleared by arrest and 860 (29.8% ) were exceptionally cleared. Of 2887 cases, 1215 (42.1%) of cases were listed as open/inactive and 56 (1.9%) of cases were listed as investigation continuing. Of 2887 cases, 212 (7.3%) of cases were unfounded by the police. Of the 504 adults arrested, charges were filed in 363 (72%) of cases and charges were declined in 115 (22.8%) of cases where an adult was arrested. In 354 cases where charges were filed, 189 (53.4%) of those arrests ended with a guilty verdict. Of 189 cases ending in a guilty verdict, 153 (81%) of those guilty verdicts were the product of a plea bargain. Of 189 cases ending in a guilty verdict, 7 (3.7%) of cases involved a guilty finding by a judge and 25 (13.2%) involved a guilty finding by a jury. In only 11 cases (5.8%) a jury acquitted the defendant following a trial. This study found that of 2887 reported to the police across all 6 sites, only 43 cases (1.5%) were tried in court. Factors associated with case outcomes Size of jurisdiction was important. Across replication sites, arrest outcomes were similar, but smaller jurisdictions were more likely to leave cases open than medium or large jurisdictions. Like Spohn and Tellis, multivariate analyses predicting arrest show ed that legal or evidentiary factors were significant predictors of arrest and that the effects of case characteristics were independent of jurisdiction type. 2 Cases were collected from 2006- 2012 in our smallest sites to insure a large enough sample of sexual assault complaints for statistical analysis and comparison to medium and large sites. This number includes cases reported by males, however our detailed analyses of predictors of attrition relies on the sample of 2887 reports by females as a replication of Spo III
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Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases Executive Summary. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice A case with a victim who cooperated with the criminal justice system was the strongest predictor of arrest across all jurisdictions. Cases involving intimate partners were also significant predictors of arrest for all jurisdictions. Non-stranger perpetrators had higher odds of arrest compared to strangers for medium and large jurisdictions. Medium and large jurisdiction results also show ed that factors related to questions abou t victim credibility significantly decreased the likelihood of arrest although the type of credibility indicators varied. Race of the victim was a significant predictor of arrest only for small sites and higher odds of arrest were found for incidents involving black victims. Within each jurisdiction size group (with the exception of the medium site) the significance of specific site indicators reveal ed that differences in the odds of arrest remained after controlling for other factors. This was in contrast to Spohn and Tellis who did not find a significant effect for site (comparing LAPD and LASD) in their multivariate analysis of arrest outcomes. Analyses of the replication sites show that there were extra-legal factors that significantly predicted arrest and tended to be those factors related to challenges to the credibility of the victim. This was in contrast to Spohn and Tellis who found that arrest was unrelated Spohn and Tellis did not find any effect of victim race on the likelihood of arrest. The replication, however, did reveal that incidents involving black victims were more likely than those reported by white victims to end in an arrest. Indicators of victim resistance were predictive of arrest across all relationship types in the replication study in contrast to Spohn and Tellis. Victim cooperation was found to be a significant predictor of arrest across all relationship types in both studies in predicting arrest. The replication revealed differences in arrest decisions by jurisdiction size for non- stranger and intimate partners. Overuse of Exceptional Clearance Exceptional clearance was used in cases where probable cause existed to make an arrest, suggesting overuse. In exceptionally cleared cases suspects were most likely to be non-strangers (in both the Spohn and Tellis and replication study.) In alignment with Spohn and Tellis, the replication findings support ed the existence of a screening process of cases that occurred at the pre-arrest stage. Cases with factors that may be considered as challenging to prosecution were rejected at the pre-arrest stage, for example, incidents with a victim who engaged in risk taking behavior, had mental health issues, could not recall assault details or delayed reporting; cases which lacked witnesses and physical evidence ; and those where the victim was deemed to be uncooperative were screened out. Significant factors associated with attrition at post arrest stage included questions about victim character, motive to lie, cooperation, weapon use and availability of eyewitnesses. The key questions at the post arrest charging stage for both studies were: was the victim IV
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