Investigative decision-making in sexual assault case processing

Abstract

Police decision-making in sexual assault cases has received considerable attention due to case attrition. Limited studies, however, have focused on early police processes as a path for case attrition. The current study used sexual assault cases reported to a large, urban police department, located in one of the five largest and most diverse U.S. cities to examine the role of case factors along with characteristics that represent the “real rape” stereotype on decisions to: 1) assign a sexual assault case to an investigator and 2) the time to investigator assignment. Results revealed that most cases will be assigned to an investigator and that oftentimes, this will occur promptly. Analyses indicated that victim age, suspect identification, evidentiary strength, and training predicted investigator assignment decisions, while victim race/ethnicity and the “real rape” stereotype predicted time to investigator assignment. Research and policy implications are discussed.