Abstract
This study compared negative social reactions and blame among victims of sexual crimes and non-sexual crimes. Vignettes that varied in nature (sexual or non-sexual) and method (violence or intoxication) of crime were randomly assigned to Japanese-speaking respondents. After reading the vignettes, they answered items regarding negative social reactions to victims and blame toward victims and perpetrators. A web-based survey was conducted, and 690 participants completed the questionnaire. The results revealed that respondents who read sexual crime vignettes did not report more negative social reactions or blame than those who read non-sexual crime vignettes. However, respondents who read vignettes describing crimes using violence attributed more blame to victims, and reported a higher possibility of negative social reactions of stigma and distraction than those who read the vignettes that described crime using intoxication. Additionally, female respondents attributed more blame to both victim and perpetrator and exhibited lower negative social reactions. In summary, the results suggest that victims of sexual crimes were not attributed more blame or negative social reactions than those of non-sexual crimes. It suggests that the protection of victims of sexual crimes may be improved by developing general crime victim policies, rather than specialized policies for victims of sexual crimes.
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The relevant, de-identified data that support the findings may be available by contacting the lead author.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank our research participants and graduate students who gave comments and suggestions to the original draft of the questionnaire.
Funding
This work was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI [Grant Number 19K14358]. The funding source was not involved in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication.
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Ethics Approval
The questionnaire and method for this study were approved by the Ethical Review Committee for Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University (Ethics approval number: HB021-125).
Appendices
Appendix 1: Vignettes
Common for All Vignettes
One Friday night, Ms A (woman, aged 25) went to a bar and met Mr B (man, aged 25). After talking for a couple of hours, she let her guard down, owing to his charming manner and good impression. She suggested to drink a little bit more at her house. After that, they moved to her apartment and began drinking again.
Forcible Sexual Intercourse (Sexual/Violence)
As they got drunk, they started to talk about their private life. As the conversation became sexual, they moved to a sofa excitedly, spontaneously kissed, and started touching each other. After a while, Ms A found Mr B's behavior rather rough. Ms A, who did not like to be treated roughly, was turned off, and told him that he was not her type and she wanted to stop. Upset by this remark, Mr B forcefully pushed her down so that she could not resist, took her clothes off, and had sexual intercourse with her. After her attacker fled her apartment, Ms A made an emergency call to the police. The police arrived within minutes and searched the area. Not far from the scene, they arrested Mr B, who had acted suspiciously. During Mr B's interview, he admitted to his crime, and was arrested.
Robbery (Non-sexual/Violence)
As they got drunk, they started to talk about their private life. As the conversation became sexual, they moved to a sofa excitedly, spontaneously kissed, and started touching each other. After a while, Ms A found Mr B's behavior rather rough. Ms A, who did not like to be treated roughly, was turned off, and told him that he was not her type and she wanted to stop. Upset by this remark, Mr B forcefully pushed her down so that she could not resist, rummaged in her wallet, and stole approximately 30 thousand yen [approximately three hundred USD] and a credit card. After her attacker fled her apartment, Ms A made an emergency call to the police. The police arrived within minutes and searched the area. Not far from the scene, they arrested Mr B, who had acted suspiciously. During Mr B's interview, he admitted to his crime, and was arrested.
Drug-Facilitated Rape (Sexual/Intoxication)
Later, she went to a bathroom. Taking that opportunity, Mr B slipped a sleeping pill that he had by chance into her drink. Ms A returned from a bathroom and kept drinking without realizing. After a while, intoxicated by the pill and seemingly overcome with drowsiness, Ms A moved to a sofa and fell asleep. Seeing this, Mr B first pretended to wake her up by calling and shaking her. When she did not wake up, taking this opportunity, he started touching her body more boldly. When she still did not wake up, he had sexual intercourse with her. After he left her apartment, Ms A, now awake, recognized that she was victimized as her clothes were disheveled and bodily fluid was on her. She made an emergency call to the police. The police arrived within minutes and searched the area. Not far from the scene, they arrested Mr B, who had acted suspiciously. During Mr B's interview, he admitted to his crime, and was arrested.
Drug-Facilitated Robbery (Non-sexual/Intoxication)
Later, she went to a bathroom. Taking that opportunity, Mr B slipped a sleeping pill that he had by chance into her drink. Ms A returned from a bathroom and kept drinking without realizing. After a while, intoxicated by the pill and seemingly overcome with drowsiness, Ms A moved to a sofa and fell asleep. Seeing this, Mr B first pretended to wake her up by calling and shaking her. When she did not wake up, taking this opportunity, he started rummaging in her wallet. When she still did not wake up, he stole approximately 30 thousand yen [approximately three hundred USD] and a credit card from the wallet. After he left her apartment, Ms A, now awake, noticed that her wallet was stolen and made an emergency call to the police. The police arrived within minutes and searched the area. Not far from the scene, they arrested Mr B, who had acted suspiciously. During Mr B's interview, he admitted to his crime, and was arrested.
Appendix 2: Bi-variate Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Victim blame | |||||||||
2 | Perpetrator blame | 0.14** | ||||||||
Negative social responses | ||||||||||
3 | Stigma | 0.27** | − 0.16** | |||||||
4 | Distraction | 0.22** | − 0.10** | 0.54** | ||||||
5 | Take control | 0.06 | − 0.17** | 0.49** | 0.46** | |||||
6 | Victim blame | 0.47** | 0.00 | 0.55** | 0.44** | 0.42** | ||||
7 | Egocentric | 0.08* | − 0.10** | 0.47** | 0.46** | 0.64** | 0.36** | |||
8 | Intrusiveness | 0.07 | − 0.16** | 0.46** | 0.27** | 0.61** | 0.49** | 0.50** | ||
9 | Age of respondent | 0.23** | 0.08* | 0.10** | 0.10** | − 0.01 | 0.28** | 0.05 | 0.04 | |
M | 3.23 | 4.26 | 2.66 | 2.78 | 2.63 | 3.02 | 2.71 | 2.66 | 53.29 | |
(SD) | (0.92) | (0.82) | (0.81) | (0.77) | (0.69) | (0.82) | (0.77) | (0.91) | (17.10) | |
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Mukai, T., Watamura, E. Comparing Negative Social Reactions to Sexual and Non-sexual Crimes: An Experimental Study with a Japanese Sample. Int Criminol 2, 414–423 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43576-022-00074-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43576-022-00074-x