Abstract
The issues surrounding the reporting of sexual assaults in the United States have been problematic in both the prosecution of the offenders and blaming the victim. Kim Ménard, in Reporting Sexual Assault: A Social Ecology Perspective, has compiled a comprehensive and useful tool to look at factors that have an impact on whether an assault is reported. Ménard's analysis of current available data focuses on contextual factors, such as the social climate of the county in which the assaults occurred, severity of the assaults, whether the assaults were committed by a stranger, and how individuals and their support systems understand the assaults. This research is important for raising awareness about the reasons sexual assaults are among the least reported crimes, for guiding future research, and for educating about ways to assist in outreach to provide support to those victims who do not seek help.
This book also identifies the complex nature of sexual assault crimes. To report an assault, the individual and her/his support system must label the event as a crime, and the crime has to be seen as severe enough so that the survivor feels that the criminal justice system will also believe the assault to be a crime and not turn the process against her/him. This frequently means that there must be a weapon and the perpetrator must be a stranger so that no longstanding dispute between victim and offender will complicate the interpretation of the event. As Menard points out, in spite of the fact that rape shield laws state that any information about a prior relationship between the victim and offender is inadmissible, the issue of consent becomes blurred in the legal system when there is a prior relationship. This research reveals that victims are less likely to contact the police when the assault was committed by someone they know. Ménard's research also indicates that people in rural communities are less likely to report assaults than those who live in urban communities and do not understand crimes in the same way as people in larger cities.
One of the most important understandings to come from this work is that the political and social climate pertaining to sexual assaults in this country sends a message to victims that they should not report or seek help for services if an assault does not fall in the category of a violent stranger rape. Even when the assault is consistent with a violent scenario, the victim may still be blamed. Social psychologists point out that blaming the victim allows others to feel safer because they can then believe that the assaulted individual must have done something to bring on the attack.
As a researcher, educator, and clinician, I find this information to be of paramount importance for helping to inform outreach programs and identify existing issues that need to be resolved. As I train new clinicians, promoting an understanding of the obstacles a victim must overcome to access helping services will contribute to a more empathic therapeutic relationship. This information also is valuable for those designing and implementing training and outreach programs for the community, the police, and lawmakers. Ménard's statement that “normative definitions of rape are inconsistent with the legal definitions of this crime” is an important insight to come from this book. If this society's definition is so different from that of the criminal justice system, how can we expect to resolve the underreporting of sexual assault crimes? The variability and complexity of this type of crime requires that both lawmakers and researchers clearly understand what each community needs to help victims step forward and seek help, as well as to prevent perpetrators from rationalizing that they did not commit a crime and then assaulting again.
The finding that sexual assaults are higher in rural areas, which Menard states is consistent with other studies, is also important in helping to guide intervention and outreach programs. Rural communities are often underserved with regard to mental health services, and this study identifies specific issues that must be addressed to create any successful intervention or outreach program in rural areas. Ménard does an excellent job of identifying many of the challenges of working with rural communities.
This research sheds light on the factors that prevent victims from seeking services. The next step is to find solutions.