Police officers and rape victims : attitudes and interface
| dc.contributor.author | Anstiss, Vivienne M. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-10-17T21:48:07Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-10-17T21:48:07Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1995 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | The attitudes of New Zealand Police toward rape victims were assessed using 190 Criminal Investigation Branch officers responses to the Attitudes Toward Rape Victim Scale (ARVS), the Traditional-Egalitarian Sex Role scale (TESR) and responses to questions pertaining to sexual assault training. Questionnaire responses concerning police treatment and the processing of rape cases from 13 rape victims were also used. Most of the rape victim respondents indicated that their treatment by the Police was good, some however indicated the officers they came in contact with did not treat them appropriately. The problems identified by the rape victim survey were the disbelief and non-supportive attitude demonstrated by some officers and the lack of follow-up information given to the victim during the processing of their complaints. Responses to the Police Officer questionnaire indicated a fairly supportive attitude toward rape vitims among most officers. Responses to the ARVS were found to correlate highly with the TESR, no other variables were found to correlate with ARVS scores. However, a proportion of New Zealand Police were found to hold some negative beliefs about victim accountability and validity of rape complaints. These attitudes lie in contrast to the open-minded and non-judgmental values considered to be part of the attitudes necessary for Police officers. To improve the attitudes of those officers it is recommended that the Police incorporate victim feedback and facts about the frequency of false complaints in their training, an ongoing training programme, and evaluation of potential recruits attitudes to ensure they fulfil the criteria for the "right" attitudes desirable for all Police officers to possess. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10092/102720 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/11854 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of Canterbury | en |
| dc.rights | All Rights Reserved | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://canterbury.libguides.com/rights/theses | en |
| dc.subject | Police--New Zealand--Attitudes | en |
| dc.subject | Rape victims--New Zealand--Attitudes | en |
| dc.subject | Rape victims--New Zealand--Psychology | en |
| dc.subject | Rape--New Zealand | en |
| dc.title | Police officers and rape victims : attitudes and interface | en |
| dc.type | Theses / Dissertations | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Psychology | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | University of Canterbury | en |
| thesis.degree.level | Masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |
| uc.bibnumber | 548746 | en |
| uc.college | Faculty of Science | en |