<p> Police officers are often the first contact a victim of rape has with the criminal justice system and may be the first people to whom rape victims disclose. To examine the extent to which police officers endorse rape myths, this quantitative study assessed their views about rape victims, along with the effects of demographics and experience. The Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale--Short Form was administered to 66 patrol officers in Southern California. The officers scored in the mid-range of this scale, which addresses seven different categories of common rape myths, such as "she lied" and "she asked for it." For some rape myths, females and ethnic majority officers indicated less endorsement of rape myths. These findings reveal a need for more in-depth research on police officers. Social workers who work with the victims of rape should advocate for increased education of law enforcement personnel about rape and its victims.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1569988 |
| Date | 30 December 2014 |
| Creators | Barnard, Sarah |
| Publisher | California State University, Long Beach |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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