‘A lot of the time it’s dealing with victims who don’t want to know, it’s all made up, or they’ve got mental health’: Rape myths in a large English police force
Open accessAbstract
Despite an increase in the reporting of rape, convictions in England and Wales have fallen significantly in recent years. Previous research has found high rape myth acceptance among police officers. Given that the police act as gatekeepers to the criminal justice system, subscribing to rape myths may have significant effects upon victim attrition and conviction rates. This study explores police officers’ use of rape myths and how these may impact investigations and prosecutions. A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with police officers from a large English police force. The interview data were analysed using the qualitative method of thematic analysis. Although there were instances where officers demonstrated some awareness of the need to dispel or counter rape myths, rape myths were employed by most officers, with the most common relating to (1) victim fabrication (‘women lie’) and (2) victim precipitation (‘women ask for it’). Recommendations are made around screening and training for police officers.
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Extra-legal factors affecting police and prosecutorial decision-making in cases of sexual violence include rape myths.
“Extra-legal factors affecting police (Gekoski et al., 2024; O’Neal & Hayes, 2020) and prosecutorial (St. George & Spohn, 2018) decision-making in cases of sexual violence include rape myths”
From Silenced Survivors: A Systematic Review of the Barriers to Reporting, Investigating, Prosecuting, and Sentencing of Adult Female Rape and Sexual Assault (2024) · cites this paper as Gekoski et al., 2024
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- Authors
- Gekoski, A., Massey, K., Allen, K., Ferreira, J., Dalton, C. T., Horvath, M., & Davies, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Suffolk (GB)
- Canterbury Christ Church University (GB)
- Bournemouth University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Gekoski, Anna
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Review of Victimology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2023-01-11
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-24
- ISSN
- 0269-7580 (ISSN-L)
- 2047-9433
- OpenAlex
- W4315646340
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 5
- FWCI
- 18.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Review of Victimology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Bournemouth University Research Online (Bournemouth University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Keywords
- rape myths, police officers, rape investigation, rape prosecution, conviction rates, victim precipitation, police training, rape reporting, England and Wales
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