Friends of the Forensic Science Club, this week we present the paper “Sexual offences against women: variables involved in judicial decision making” by Camplá, X.; Marcos, V.; Fariña, F. and Arce, R. (2019), in which authors revise the characteristics of 102 cases of sexual violence to analyze how these could influence the judicial decision-making process.
Sexual violence, according to the World Health Organization, is understood as any sexual act, attempt to have it, comments or unwanted sexual advances, or acts directed against the sexuality of a person, using coercion, by any person, without matter what relationship you have with the victim, and in any setting.
In other words, sexual violence represents an attack on the physical and emotional integrity, and on the sexual autonomy of people.
The WHO also reports a prevalence of this phenomenon against women throughout their lives: 35% experience sexual assaults at some point in their lives, not including sexual abuse. Plus, the perpetrators tend to be predominantly the intimate partner of the victim.
Therefore, we can say that it is a criminal typology that mainly affects women, although there is a growing number of victimizations of this type against men, according to recent studies.
Despite the magnitude of the problem of sexual violence, estimated through victimization surveys, there is actually a very low rate of formal complaints worldwide. This is related to the characteristics of the crime (for example, the absence of witnesses), as well as myths about sexual assault.
Therefore, it is estimated that there is a high number of hidden cases and that what we really see is just the tip of the iceberg.
The decision-making process in criminal justice is especially relevant when it comes to the field of sexual violence.
This decision-making should be based on the evaluation of legal factors (such as the adequacy of the evidence), without preconceptions. However, people who work for the judicial system face complex scenarios, without forgetting that decision-making is limited by the characteristics of human cognitive functioning.
These elements, cognitive schemes, and human prejudices are part of the so-called extralegal factors in the field of judicial decisions. One of them could be, for example, the relationship between the victim and the offender, since a connection has been found between this and fewer complaints.
Another variable considered mediator of the judicial decision are the socially negative characteristics and the prejudices against the victim.
On the other hand, cognitive schemes on sexual assaults have generated misunderstandings and expectations about how they occur, how the victims behave before and after the events, simplifying the information and reducing the credibility of the victim.
Taking all this into account, authors decide to study a series of judicial decisions on sexual crimes committed against adult women, with the aim of characterizing the crimes that end in criminal proceedings and knowing if there is any association between the verdict and the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, the prejudices against the victim and the presence or absence of injuries.
A total of 102 cases committed against women over 18 years of age were analyzed.
50% of the total corresponded to cases of rape, 42.2% to cases of sexual abuse, 7.8% were robberies with rape.
Regarding the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, 34% were strangers, 66% knew the victim and 11.8% were part of the victim’s family.
Partner victimization occurs 55% of the time in the victim’s own home, 18% in the victimizer’s home, and 14% in his vehicle.
Regarding the strategies of the perpetrator, the use of force predominates (70.6%) followed by sexual assaults disabling the victim, either because the victim is asleep or facilitating the consumption of substances (20.6%); finally, psychological intimidation also intervenes (8.8%).
Regarding the judicial decision, there were a total of 42.2% absolutions and 57.8% convictions.
It was observed that it is not so common that there are injuries, and if there are, they are usually of mild severity. In addition, it may be the case that the injuries are not directly attributable to sexual violence, considering that in the cases analyzed women were adults (with an active sexual life, perhaps some childbirth, etcetera).
The low number of convictions associated with intimidation as a strategy (8.8%) shows the degree of difficulty involved in solving the problem of consent in the absence of physical struggle, even though intimidation is a frequent tactic.
Since assaults by strangers are the least frequent type, it is logical to think that the representation of these cases in the statistics is much lower, and therefore, it is important to examine in detail the arguments that motivate absolutions in cases where closer links between victim and aggressor exist, which would be the predominant cases, and if there are extralegal factors influencing the decision-making process.
Authors conclude with the idea that it is necessary to create training instances for those who work in the justice system on the heterogeneity of victims and the different dynamics of violence, as well as promoting awareness of their own biases and cognitive schemes when addressing evidence and cases in general, in order not to contribute to the impunity of the crime.
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