651093

research-article2016
JIVXXX10.1177/0886260516651093Journal of Interpersonal ViolenceO’Neal et al

Article
Journal of Interpersonal Violence
1­–24
The Sexual Stratification © The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permissions:
Hypothesis: Is the sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0886260516651093
Decision to Arrest jiv.sagepub.com

Influenced by the Victim/

Suspect Racial/Ethnic
Dyad?

Eryn Nicole O’Neal,1 Laura O. Beckman,2

and Cassia Spohn2

Abstract
The sexual stratification hypothesis suggests that criminal justice responses
to sexual victimization will differ depending on the victim/suspect racial/
ethnic dyad. Previous research examining the sexual stratification hypothesis
has primarily focused on court processes, and the small body of literature
examining arrest decisions is dated. There remains substantial opportunity
for testing the sexual stratification hypothesis at response stages apart
from the court level (i.e., arrest). Using quantitative data on 655 sexual
assault complaints that were reported to the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s
Department (LASD) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in
2008, this study examines the effect of the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad
on the decision to arrest. Findings suggest that police consider the victim/
suspect racial/ethnic dyad when making arrest decisions. In addition, victim
characteristics, strength of evidence indicators, and measures of case factors
predict the police decision to make an arrest.

1Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA

2Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

Corresponding Author:
Eryn Nicole O’Neal, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State
University, P.O. Box 2296, Huntsville, TX 77341-2296, USA.
Email: enoneal@asu.edu

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

2 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

Keywords
sexual stratification hypothesis, sexual assault case processing, police arrest
decisions, race, ethnicity

Criminal justice decision making and official responses to sexual assault

have been shaped by the justice system’s complicated history regarding
complex racial politics (Belknap, 2007; Kennedy, 1997; LaFree, 1980;
Miller, 2008; Wolfgang & Reidel, 1973). In fact, Brownmiller (1975) notes,
“No single event ticks off America’s political schizophrenia with greater
certainty than the case of a black man accused of raping a white woman” (p.
230). The salient role of the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad in sexual
assault case processing originated from the use of Black-on-White rape
accusations to justify social control of Black males and to ensure White
male dominance in the wake of emancipation (Kennedy, 1997; Patton &
Snyder-Yuly, 2007).
Although research has established that the victim/suspect racial/ethnic
dyad influences sexual assault case outcomes (see Spohn & Spears, 1996;
Walsh, 1987), scholarly work has primarily focused on examining prosecu-
torial and judicial decision making (Beichner & Spohn, 2005; Kingsnorth,
Lopez, Wentworth, & Cummings, 1998; Kingsnorth, MacIntosh, Berdahl,
Blades, & Rossi, 2001; Spohn & Holleran, 2001; Spohn & Spears, 1996;
Tellis & Spohn, 20081; Walsh, 1987). Only a handful of studies on sexual
assault case processing have examined earlier decision points such as the
decision to arrest (see Alderden & Ullman, 2012a, 2012b; Bouffard, 2000;
Tasca, Rodriguez, Spohn, & Koss, 2012). Even fewer studies examining
sexual assault case processing have specifically investigated how the racial
and ethnic composition of the victim/suspect dyad influences arrest deci-
sions, and the studies that have are largely outdated (e.g., LaFree, 1980,
1981).
This is a notable oversight considering police officer decision making
plays a crucial role in determining sexual assault case outcomes. After all, the
police have been called “gatekeepers” of the criminal justice system because
they determine whether persons who are accused of sexual assault will con-
tinue to later stages of the criminal justice process (Kerstetter, 1990). Law-
enforcement officers have discretionary powers that include deciding whether
to record an incident report, how a call for service will be handled, how much
time will be devoted to investigating a case, the incident type to formally
record, and whether the suspect will be arrested. Because of these discretion-
ary powers, some scholars argue that examining arrest decisions—as opposed
to later stages of the criminal justice process—is most important because

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 3

doing so helps fully understand the factors that affect sexual assault case
processing (Alderden & Ullman, 2012a).
Accordingly, we draw on the sexual stratification hypothesis to examine
the effect of the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad on the decision to arrest.
By doing so, we can assess whether the considerable amount of discretion
bestowed on police officers facilitates their reliance on extra-legal factors
(including race and ethnicity) when deciding whether or not to make a sex-
ual assault arrest. To address this concern, we use quantitative data on 655
sexual assault complaints that were reported to the Los Angeles County
Sherriff’s Department (LASD) and the Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) in 2008.

Literature Review
The Sexual Stratification Hypothesis
The sexual stratification hypothesis is a variation of conflict theory that was
originally developed to explain racial disparities in both criminal justice deci-
sion making and responses to victimization and was later extended to include
ethnic disparities (see Tellis & Spohn, 2008). Conflict theory views social
control as a means to advance and protect authority power and interest, rather
than as a response to practical concerns such as an increase in crime rates
(Liska, 1992). The sexual stratification hypothesis specifically posits that
persons of influence control sexual access according to race and ethnicity
(Tellis & Spohn, 2008). Regarding sexual assault, Black and Hispanic men
who assault White women can be viewed as disrupting the power hierarchy
of the dominant group (i.e., White men). Therefore, these types of assaults
will be punished more harshly than sexual assaults involving other victim/
suspect racial/ethnic dyads (Tellis & Spohn, 2008). In addition, Black and
Hispanic men who assault Black and Hispanic women will be treated more
leniently by the justice system because the victimization of these women is
viewed as less serious and less important (Tellis & Spohn, 2008).
The American legal system’s failure to extend equal protection to women
of color who are sexually assaulted can be linked back to the historical belief
that the obedience of Blacks can only be obtained and maintained through
“uncontrolled authority over the body” (see Kennedy, 1997, p. 33). As a
result, Black-on-White sexual assault is believed to be more serious than
White-on-White sexual assault and White-on-White sexual assault is seen as
more serious compared with Black-on-Black sexual assault (LaFree, 1980;
Wolfgang & Reidel, 1973). These beliefs are often held by those who benefit
from race/power differentials (Walsh, 1987) and wish to maintain societal

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

4 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

power imbalances (i.e., Whites). LaFree (1980) states, “American society is

characterized by a sexual stratification system which imposes more serious
sanctions on men from less powerful groups who are accused of assaulting
women from more powerful social groups” (p. 852). Consistent with this
reasoning, the sexual stratification hypothesis argues that Whites who assault
Black or Hispanic individuals will receive the most lenient punishments. In
addition, Blacks or Hispanics who assault Black or Hispanic individuals will
receive lenient punishments. Conversely, Blacks or Hispanics who assault
Whites will receive the harshest sanctions (Tellis & Spohn, 2008; Walsh,
1987). As a recent example, Sommers, Goldstein, and Baskin (2014), in their
study of prosecutorial decision making and violent crime, found that prosecu-
tors were less likely to make plea offers in cases involving suspects of color
(i.e., Blacks and Hispanics) and White victims.
Sexual assault is a relational phenomenon that happens in the context of a
relationship between two people. This makes the sexual stratification hypoth-
esis an appropriate framework to examine racial and ethnic disparities in
criminal justice decision making and responses to victimization.2 This frame-
work is appropriate because it examines the relationship between the victim
and suspect by examining racial and ethnic dyads as a single variable as
opposed to looking at victim race/ethnicity and suspect race/ethnicity as two
separate variables. In the following section, we turn to prior research on racial
and ethnic disparities in police decision making for sexual assault cases.
Because empirical studies examining the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad
are scarce for arrest outcomes in sexual assault cases, the following section
also includes prior research on race and ethnicity generally for the overall
policing stage.

Race, Ethnicity, and Police Decision Making in Sexual Assault

Cases
There are multiple decision points in sexual assault investigations where
race, ethnicity, and a number of other extra-legal characteristics can influence
case attrition (Tasca et al., 2012). The initial step required to prompt a police
investigation is the victim report. The police can influence whether the victim
files a report after initial contact—either through persuasion or a refusal to
take a report (Alderden & Ullman, 2012a; Campbell, 2005, 2006; Maier,
2008). Factors that predict victim reporting include the race and ethnicity of
the victim and suspect, victim injury, victim resistance, presence of a weapon,
and the victim/suspect relationship (Bachman, 1998; Du Mont, Miller, &
Myhr, 2003; Felson & Pare, 2005; B. S. Fisher, Daigle, Cullen, & Turner,
2003; Rennison, 2002). Findings have been mixed regarding race, ethnicity,

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 5

and likelihood of reporting. Some studies have found that White victims are
more likely to report a sexual assault compared with victims of color (Tjaden
& Thoennes, 1998). Other studies have found the opposite (Bachman, 1998;
Felson & Pare, 2005; B. S. Fisher et al., 2003). Few studies on victim report-
ing have examined the influence of the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad, yet
B. S. Fisher and colleagues (2003) did find that victims were more likely to
report a sexual assault when the victim and suspect race differed.
Once an incident has been reported, police officers determine whether the
case meets the criteria for sexual assault and decide whether to found or
unfound (dismiss) a case (Alderden & Ullman, 2012b; Kerstetter, 1990). If a
case is founded, it remains open for investigation and police proceed to ques-
tioning witnesses, identifying the suspect, and collecting evidence (Alderden
& Ullman, 2012b; Frazier & Haney, 1996; Kerstetter, 1990; Shaw &
Campbell, 2013; Tasca et al., 2012). Similar to victim reporting, findings
regarding the relationship between race/ethnicity and sexual assault investi-
gations have been inconsistent. Bryden and Lengnick’s (1997) review con-
cluded that Black victims were less likely to have their cases founded, while
Alderden and Ullman (2012a) reported no such relationship. Mixed results
on this decision stage have also been documented when taking the victim/
suspect racial/ethnic dyad into account (Bouffard, 2000; Tellis & Spohn,
2008). Regarding investigation practices, Tasca and colleagues (2012) did
not find any differences for suspect identification according to the victim/
suspect racial/ethnic dyad, but Shaw and Campbell (2013) found that police
officers were actually more likely to submit sexual assault kits for non-White
victims.
Overall, research on the earliest policing decision points of sexual assault
case processing reveals varied support for the influence of race and ethnicity
on police decisions. Instead, the main predictors of these early investigative
decisions appear to revolve around matters of evidence, a prior victim/sus-
pect relationship (increases the likelihood of founding a case and identifying
a suspect),3 and questions regarding the victim’s moral character and behav-
ior at the time of the incident (Alderden & Ullman, 2012a; Bouffard, 2000;
Frazier & Haney, 1996; Kerstetter, 1990, Tellis & Spohn, 2008). Nevertheless,
these findings do point to the fact that police officers rely on race and ethnic-
ity to make decisions—at least in some instances, which indicates the possi-
bility that race and ethnicity may factor into the police decision to arrest.
The later stages in the law enforcement component of sexual assault case
processing include the arrest of the suspect and the presentation of the case to
the prosecutor. In these final law enforcement stages, police and prosecuto-
rial decisions are frequently interrelated and dependent on one another.
Although these events are often linked to one another (e.g., the prosecutor

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

6 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

issues charges, warranting the arrest of the suspect), they do not always hap-
pen together. For example, the police may refer a case to the prosecutor in
efforts of obtaining a warrant, but the prosecutor may deny an arrest warrant.
Then again, it is also possible for the police to make an arrest prior to refer-
ring the case to the prosecutor and subsequently release the suspect after
making the decision to not refer the case to the prosecutor. Overall, there are
numerous possible case outcomes including no arrest and no referral to the
prosecutor, only an arrest, only a referral to the prosecutor, or both an arrest
and a referral to the prosecutor. It should be noted that for a case to move
forward in the criminal justice system from the investigation stage to the
prosecution stage, there must be both an arrest and a referral. In our “Method”
section, we provide detailed information on how we handle and code the
arrest decision.
The present study focuses on the decision to arrest for two main reasons.
First, significant attrition occurs at the arrest stage. According to the National
Crime Victimization Survey, only 31% of reported sexual assaults from 2005
to 2010 resulted in arrest (Planty, Langton, Krebs, Berzofsky, & Smiley-
McDonald, 2013). Therefore, the arrest decision plays an important role in
shaping whether reported sexual assaults move forward in the criminal jus-
tice system. Second, statistics reveal that suspects of color—and Black sus-
pects in particular—are overrepresented in arrests for sexual assault
(Greenfield, 1997). Specifically, Black suspects comprise 42% of all arrest-
ees for sexual assault, which is nearly 30% more than the percentage of
Blacks represented in the general population (Greenfield, 1997; U.S. Census
Bureau, 2010). Despite the obvious overrepresentation of suspects of color in
arrests for sexual assault, only a handful of studies have investigated whether
the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad specifically influences the likelihood of
arrest when controlling for other legal and extra-legal variables (but see
Bouffard, 2000; LaFree, 1980, 1981; Tasca et al., 2012).
Recent research on sexual assault case processing, however, has examined
the effect of other extra-legal characteristics on arrest decisions, including
detective gender, questions regarding the victim’s character and reputation,
alcohol use by the victim and offender, and the victim/suspect relationship.
Notably, extra-legal factors have been found to heavily influence the decision
to arrest (see Alderden & Ullman, 2012a, 2012b; Bouffard, 2000; Felson &
Pare, 2007; Spohn & Tellis, 2014; Tasca et al., 2012). Findings from these
studies demonstrate the immense discretion that characterizes arrest for sex-
ual assault and point to the possibility that the victim/suspect racial/ethnic
dyad may also influence the decision to arrest. Indeed, the amount of crime
makes it impossible for the police to enforce all law violations, allowing
room for reliance on stereotypes of sexual assault and extra-legal factors in

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 7

decision making (Alderden & Ullman, 2012a; S. Z. Fisher, 1993; Goldstein,

1960; Mastrofski, 2004; Reiner, 2010; Rowe, 2007).

Current Focus
The sexual stratification hypothesis suggests that criminal justice responses
to victimization will differ depending on the victim/suspect racial/ethnic
dyad (LaFree, 1989). Previous research examining the sexual stratification
hypothesis, however, has resulted in mixed findings (see Spohn & Tellis,
2012). As mentioned above, there remains substantial opportunity for testing
the sexual stratification hypothesis at response stages apart from the court
level (i.e., at arrest). The present study addresses issues related to this goal
and contributes to the current body of literature in three important ways.
First, this study tests the sexual stratification hypothesis by examining arrest
decisions. Testing the hypothesis in a context other than court processes con-
tributes to extant research and extends the hypothesis’ application. Second,
this research examines theoretically relevant variables regarding factors that
influence sexual assault case outcomes. Third, we expand the early frame-
work that primarily focused on Black and White victims and suspects to
include other individuals of color. We move from a focus on just Black and
White individuals to Black, White, and Hispanic suspects and victims.
Previous research on racial disparities in criminal justice decision making,
the criminal justice system’s unequal enforcement of the law, the American
legal system’s failure to protect Blacks from criminality, sexual assault case
outcomes, and research testing the sexual stratification hypothesis inform the
analytic strategy below.

Method
Data
We analyze quantitative data on sexual assault complaints that were reported
to the LASD and the LAPD in 2008, which were collected for a study on the
policing and prosecuting of sexual assault (Spohn & Tellis, 2012). For the
original study, 944 case files were obtained for sexual assaults with female
victims above the age of 12 that were reported in 2008.4 We obtained data on
the following sex crimes: rape, attempted rape, sexual penetration with a for-
eign object, oral copulation, sodomy, unlawful sex, and sexual battery. From
the LASD, case files were obtained for all reports that met the selection cri-
teria above (N = 543). Due to the numerous cases reported to the LAPD in
2008, a stratified random sample of cases was selected (N = 401). Because

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

8 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

we wanted to ensure an adequate number of cases from each of the LAPD’s

19 divisions, as well as an adequate number of cases from each case clear-
ance category (cleared by arrest, cleared by exceptional means, investigation
continuing, and unfounded), the sample was stratified by LAPD division and,
within each division, by the type of case clearance (for more information on
the data and collection, see Spohn & Tellis, 2014). For the purpose of the
present study, we eliminated all cases in which there was an unidentified
suspect; the police obviously cannot make an arrest in cases with unidentified
suspects. We also eliminate all unfounded cases. If the investigating officer
believes the victim’s account and determines that the reported incident con-
stitutes a crime, the case becomes one of the “crimes known to the police”
that will be included in the jurisdiction’s crime statistics. If, however, the
officer does not believe the victim’s story and therefore concludes that a
crime did not occur, the case is unfounded. After imposing these restrictions
on the original sample, 655 cases met the selection criteria and were included
in the current study.

Dependent Variable
The present study focuses on the police decision to arrest (1 = yes, 0 = no).
Specific to our study, it is necessary to point out that our determination of
whether the suspect was arrested (or not) is not based on whether the case
was cleared by arrest for Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) purposes.5 This
reflects the fact that Spohn and Tellis (2014) found that official data on cases
that were “cleared by arrest” were misleading due to the fact that both the
LASD and (especially) the LAPD changed the case clearance from cleared
by arrest to cleared by exceptional means when the district attorney refused
to file charges. Our measure of arrest thus differentiates between cases in
which the police made an arrest (regardless of how the case was cleared) and
cases in which a suspect was not arrested. As shown in Table 1, approxi-
mately 53.6% of the suspects were arrested (n = 351). It should be noted that
eliminating the unfounded cases and cases without an identified suspect
inflated the percentage of suspects arrested. In the original sample of 944
cases, 39.6% of the reports resulted in the arrest of the suspect.

Independent Variable of Interest

Table 1 also presents summary statistics on the independent variable and con-
trol variables. The primary independent variable of interest is the victim/sus-
pect racial/ethnic dyad. 6 The majority of victims were Hispanic, accounting
for 50.8% of the sample (n = 333). In addition, 29.9% of the victims were

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 9

Table 1.  Policing Sexual Assault, LAPD and LASD, 2008 (N = 655).

Variables M or %
Dependent variable
  Police arrested the suspect 53.6%
Independent variable
  Suspect Black/victim Black 16.3%
  Suspect Black/victim Hispanic 4.3%
  Suspect Black/victim White 4.3%
  Suspect Hispanic/victim Black 2.0%
  Suspect Hispanic/victim Hispanic 42.0%
  Suspect Hispanic/victim White 9.8%
  Suspect White/victim Black 0.9%
  Suspect White/victim Hispanic 4.6%
  Suspect White/victim White (reference) 15.9%
Control variables
  Los Angeles Police Department 35.4%
  Suspect/victim characteristics
  Intimate 27.1%
  Nonstranger 53.8%
  Stranger (reference) 19.1%
  Victim age 25.76 (SD = 12.26)
  Suspect age 32.24 (SD = 11.84)
   Victim consumed alcohol 23.3%
   Victim’s credibility questioned 6.0%
  Strength of evidence
   Physical evidence collected 41.2%
  Suspect interviewed 59.2%
  Victim cooperated 74.1%
   At least one witness 46.0%
  Prompt reporting 24.7%
  Case factors
   Aggravated sexual assault 57.6%
   Suspect physically assaulted victim 45.2%
  Victim resisted 75.7%

Note. LAPD = Los Angeles Police Department; LASD = Los Angeles County Sherriff’s
Department.

White (n = 196), and 19.2% were Black (n = 126). Of the first identified sus-
pect, 21.4% were White (n = 140), 24.9% were Black (n = 163), and 53.7%
were Hispanic (n = 352). The victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad is measured

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

10 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

using the following dummy variables: suspect Black/victim Black (16.3%),

suspect Black/victim Hispanic (4.3%), suspect Black/victim White (4.3%),
suspect Hispanic/victim Black (2.0%), suspect Hispanic/victim Hispanic
(42.0%), suspect Hispanic/victim White (9.8%), suspect White/victim Black
(0.9%), and suspect White/victim Hispanic (4.6%), with suspect White/vic-
tim White (15.9%) as the reference category.

Control Variables
A number of variables were included in the analysis as statistical controls to
isolate the effects of the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad on the police deci-
sion to arrest. In other words, we hold constant theoretically relevant vari-
ables to reduce the effect of confounding variables. Following Spohn and
Tellis (2014), control variables are broken into three categories, including
victim and suspect characteristics, evidentiary strength, and case factors.
Regarding victim and suspect characteristics, continuous variables for victim
age and suspect age are included (see Spohn & Tellis, 2012, 2014). Victims
in this sample had an average age of 26; suspects had an average age of 32.
We include variables for the victim/suspect relationship, which is measured
by three dummy variables (intimate, nonstranger, and stranger, with stranger
as the reference group). In addition, we include a measure of victim risk-
taking behavior that is coded 1 if the victim consumed alcohol before or dur-
ing the incident. In this sample, 152 victims (23.3%) reported consuming
alcohol. A variable is included that taps into whether the investigating officer
questioned the victim’s credibility. Complainant credibility was coded
dichotomously based on the officer’s perception as indicated in the police
report (1 = investigating officer questioned the complainant’s credibility, 0 =
investigating officer did not question the complainant’s credibility). Cases
were coded 1 if the officer explicitly recorded questioning the complainant’s
credibility (e.g., “Victim is not credible”) in the investigative report; no inter-
pretations about credibility or officer perceptions were made by the coders.
Investigating officers questioned the victim’s credibility in 39 cases (6.0%).
We also include a variable that measures what agency the case was reported
to (LAPD = 1, LASD = 0). The majority of cases in this sample were under
the jurisdiction of the LASD (64.6%).
Tapping into strength of evidence in a case, the first variable measures
whether there was any type of physical evidence collected from the scene of
the incident or from the victim or suspect. A composite measure of evidence
was included that was coded 1 if any of the following types of evidence were
collected: clothing, semen, skin, fingerprints, blood, hair, or bedding. Physical
evidence was collected in 41.2% (n = 270) of the cases in this sample. We

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 11

also include two variables that measure whether the suspect and victim were
willing to participate in the investigation, including whether the suspect was
interviewed by the police (yes = 1, no = 0), and whether the victim was will-
ing to cooperate in the prosecution of the suspect during the investigation
(yes = 1, no = 0). Regarding victim cooperation, investigating officers
recorded the victim’s decision to cooperate at three cooperation stages: at the
time of initial reporting, once the investigation began (variable used in the
current study) and after arrest. Suspects were interviewed in 388 cases
(59.2%), and the majority of victims were willing to cooperate at the investi-
gation stage (74.1%, n = 484). A dichotomous measure was also included that
indicated whether there were witnesses to the incident (witnesses = 1, no wit-
nesses = 0). This variable was coded 1 if the report indicated the presence of
a fresh complaint witness and/or if the victim reported that one or more wit-
nesses were present to the incident. Almost half of the cases in this sample
had at least one witness (46.0%, n = 301). Whether the victim made a prompt
report was included; this was defined as a report within 1 hr of the incident (1
hr = 1, more than 1 hr = 0). One fourth (n = 162) of the victims in this sample
reported the incident to law enforcement within 1 hr.
Regarding case factors, we include whether the incident was an aggra-
vated assault (57.6%), which includes incidents where the suspect used a
weapon during the attack (9.6%) and/or whether the victim suffered collat-
eral injury. In this sample, 43.1% (n = 282) of the victims suffered some type
of physical injury. The injury variable captures whether the investigating offi-
cer recorded victim injuries, whether the sexual assault nurse examiner
(SANE) recorded victim injuries during the forensic medical exam, and—in
cases where the victim delayed in reporting—whether the victim reported
that she suffered injuries during the attack. We also include a variable that
measures whether the suspect physically assaulted the victim (yes = 1, no =
0) at the time of the incident. In this sample, approximately half (45.2%, n =
296) of the suspects physically assaulted the victim during the incident. Last,
we include a dichotomous variable that measures whether the victim physi-
cally and/or verbally resisted the suspect (yes = 1, no = 0). The majority of the
victims resisted either physically and/or verbally (75.7%, n = 496).

Analytic Strategy
The analyses in the present study are conducted in two stages. To ensure the
absence of mulitcollinearity in our sample, we begin by calculating the vari-
ance inflation factors (VIFs), tolerance levels, and condition index scores for
the variables included in the model. We then estimate the effects of the vic-
tim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad on the police decision to arrest. Because our

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

12 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

dependent variable is dichotomized, a logistic regression model will be used

to estimate the effects of the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad on the police
decision to arrest.

Results
Table 2 presents the results from the tests for multicollinearity. We calculated
the VIFs, tolerance levels, and the condition index scores from each predictor
as an explicit test of multicollinearity (see Pratt & Godsey, 2003). As Table 2
indicates, none of the VIFs exceed the standard “cutoff” point of 4 (Fox,
1991; M VIF = 1.44). In addition, the condition index scores for each predic-
tor fell below the cutoff of 30 (Belsley, Kuh, & Welsch, 1980; condition num-
ber = 20.86).
The results of the analysis testing the sexual stratification hypothesis are
presented in Table 3. As these data indicate, the police were less likely to
make an arrest in cases involving Black suspects who assaulted Black victims
or Hispanic victims. In addition, police agency, victim characteristics,
strength of evidence indicators, and measures of case factors predict the
police decision to make an arrest. Regarding victim characteristics, victim
alcohol consumption is significant (b = −0.59, p < .05), with the police less
likely to make an arrest in cases involving a victim who was drinking before
or at the time of the incident. Strength of evidence measures that were
found to be significant include whether the suspect was interviewed (b =
1.57, p < .01), whether the victim cooperated at the time of investigation (b =
1.75, p < .01), whether the victim reported the presence of one or more wit-
nesses (b = 0.42, p < .05; fresh complaint and/or eye witness), and whether
the victim reported the incident within 1 hr (b = 1.55, p < .01). All of these
factors increased the likelihood that the police would make an arrest. In addi-
tion, whether physical evidence was collected also influenced whether an
arrest was made (b = 0.39, p < .10). Although the conclusions drawn from
this relationship should not be overstated as it was only significant at the .10
level. It should also be noted that the police were almost 6 times more likely
to arrest the suspect in cases involving a cooperative victim and 5 times more
likely in cases where the suspect was interviewed. Case factors that increased
the likelihood of arrest include whether the suspect physically assaulted the
victim during the sexual attack (b = 0.53, p < .05).

Discussion
Building on prior research, this study tested whether the sexual stratification
hypothesis can be extended to the decision to arrest using data from one of

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 13

Table 2.  Testing for Multicollinearity.

VIF Tolerance
Dependent variable
  Police arrested the suspect 1.48 .677
Independent variable
  Suspect Black/victim Black 1.86 .538
  Suspect Black/victim Hispanic 1.29 .774
  Suspect Black/victim White 1.31 .762
  Suspect Hispanic/victim black 1.14 .875
  Suspect Hispanic/victim Hispanic 2.25 .445
  Suspect Hispanic/victim White 1.53 .655
  Suspect white/victim Black 1.08 .923
  Suspect White/victim Hispanic 1.27 .786
Control variables
  Los Angeles Police Department 1.11 .899
  Suspect/victim characteristics
  Intimate 2.33 .430
  Nonstranger 2.61 .383
  Victim age 1.44 .696
  Suspect age 1.35 .739
   Victim consumed alcohol 1.26 .793
   Victim’s credibility questioned 1.06 .941
  Strength of evidence
   Physical evidence collected 1.37 .733
  Suspect interviewed 1.21 .825
  Victim cooperated 1.24 .805
   At least one witness 1.15 .867
  Prompt reporting 1.35 .741
  Case factors
   Aggravated sexual assault 1.57 .638
   Suspect physically assaulted victim 1.26 .796
  Victim resisted 1.12 .891
M VIF = 1.44  
Condition number = 20.86  

Note. VIF = variance inflation factors.

the largest police departments (LAPD) in the United States. Accordingly,

three broad conclusions can be extracted from our results. First, the findings
presented here suggest that the police consider the victim/suspect racial/eth-
nic dyad when making arrest decisions in sexual assault cases. Specifically,

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

14 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

Table 3.  Results of the Logistic Regression Analysis: The Decision to Arrest.

B SE Exp(b)
Independent variable
  Suspect Black/victim Black −0.622† 0.356 0.537
  Suspect Black/victim Hispanic −1.347* 0.562 0.260
  Suspect Black/victim White −0.436 0.524 0.646
  Suspect Hispanic/victim Black 0.626 0.875 1.870
  Suspect Hispanic/victim Hispanic −0.252 0.293 0.777
  Suspect Hispanic/victim White −0.465 0.399 0.628
  Suspect white/victim Black 0.849 0.965 2.338
  Suspect White/victim Hispanic 0.663 0.532 1.940
Control variables
  Los Angeles Police Department 0.419* 0.217 1.521
  Suspect/victim characteristics
  Intimate 0.160 0.338 1.174
  Nonstranger 0.196 0.322 1.216
  Victim age −0.010 0.010 0.990
  Suspect age 0.009 0.010 1.009
   Victim consumed alcohol −0.592* 0.258 0.553
   Victim’s credibility questioned −0.627 0.407 0.534
  Strength of evidence
   Physical evidence collected 0.389† 0.230 1.475
  Suspect interviewed 1.573** 0.204 4.823
  Victim cooperated 1.746** 0.252 5.733
   At least one witness 0.424* 0.208 1.528
  Prompt reporting 1.545** 0.278 4.686
  Case factors
   Aggravated sexual assault 0.125 0.244 1.134
   Suspect physically assaulted 0.531* 0.220 1.701
victim
  Victim resisted −0.018 0.241 0.982
Constant −2.957 0.599 0.052
Nagelkerke R2 = .42  

Hosmer and Lemeshow Test Chi-square df Sig

  13.122 8 .108

Note. Entries are unstandardized coefficients. SE = standard error.

†p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01 (two-tailed test).

the police were less likely to arrest Black suspects who assaulted Black or
Hispanic victims than to arrest White suspects who assaulted White victims.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 15

Accordingly, our results provide partial support for the sexual stratification
hypothesis at the arrest stage. We did not find that Black or Hispanic suspects
who assaulted White victims received harsher treatment. Instead, we found a
differential response to victimization for women of color. This aligns with the
sexual stratification hypothesis’ proposition that maintains that criminal jus-
tice action toward victimization will differ depending on the victim/suspect
racial/ethnic dyad to the neglect of victims of color (LaFree, 1989; Walsh,
1987). Our findings coincide with previous research that has demonstrated
that law-enforcement personnel take crimes against Blacks and Hispanics
less seriously than crimes against Whites (see Baldus, Pulaski, & Woodworth,
1983; LaFree, 1989; Walsh, 1987).
Second and relatedly, our findings speak to the body of literature that pos-
its the necessity of looking beyond the main effect of race and ethnicity in
trying to detect overt discrimination (see Zatz, 2000 for an overview). Instead,
the effects of race and ethnicity need to be further contextualized to discover
the more subtle ways implicit bias can result in racial and ethnic disparities
(Spohn, 2000). Prior literature has shown that the effects of race on arrest
decisions generally can be contextualized according to community character-
istics, departmental factors, and individual demographics, such as age and
gender (Brown, 2005; Eitle, D’Alessio, & Stolzenberg, 2002; Eitle &
Monahan, 2009; Eitle, Stolzenberg, & D’Alessio, 2005; Parker & Maggard,
2005; Stolzenberg, D’Alessio, & Eitle, 2004). Our study demonstrates that
the effects of race and ethnicity on the decision to arrest in sexual assault
cases specifically can be further contextualized according to victim charac-
teristics where Blacks are treated more leniently given a Black or Hispanic
victim. Therefore, not taking the victim/suspect dyad into consideration may
mask the effect of race and ethnicity on police decision making in sexual
assault cases.
Third, this study found that police officers, in addition to the victim/sus-
pect racial/ethnic dyad, consider legal factors when deciding whether (or not)
to arrest a suspect in a case of sexual assault. Whereas extra-legal factors—
such as the victim/suspect racial/ethnic dyad and victim alcohol
consumption—are legally irrelevant characteristics, legal factors are those
that should influence the decision to arrest. Legal factors found to be relevant
in this sample include case factors and strength of evidence measures.
Specifically, cooperative victims, interviewed suspects, witness presence,
prompt reporting, and whether the suspect physically assaulted the victim at
the time of the sexual attack all increased the likelihood of arrest.
Understanding the factors in general that influence police arrest decisions for
sexual assault cases is important because their discretionary powers can
greatly affect the outcome of a case.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

16 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

Returning to the first two points above, findings from this study are par-
ticularly important given that research suggests that victims residing in
urbanized predominantly Black neighborhoods are sometimes reluctant to
cooperate with law enforcement (Miller, 2008). Consistent with the sexual
stratification hypothesis, the current study found that arrest was less likely in
cases involving women of color who were assaulted by Blacks. Citizens
receive powerful messages regarding their social standing through their inter-
actions with legal authorities (Tyler, 1989; Tyler, Degoey, & Smith, 1996).
And, the decreased likelihood of arrest involving women of color may per-
petuate the historical belief that sexual assault committed against women of
color is less severe than the sexual assault of Whites. Fortunately, the police
subculture is a powerful entity; it communicates to its members various
expectations about police work, ethics, interactions with fellow officers, and
attitudes toward victims of color (Adcox, 2000; Rose & Unnithan, 2015).
Police officers are positioned to develop and put into action practices that not
only increase protection to all sexual assault victims (regardless of race and
ethnicity) but also have the potential to increase victim cooperation and
decrease case attrition.
The findings of the current study suggest that law-enforcement officers
need to actively work toward dismantling beliefs surrounding race/ethnicity
and sexual assault, or they run the risk of engaging in policing that denies full
protection to certain types of victims. Along the same lines, developing
appropriate and supportive response techniques regarding the sexual assault
of victims of color is particularly salient to law-enforcement officers who are
often the first point of contact victims have with the criminal justice system.
Research indicates that only one fourth to one third of sexual assault cases
reported to law enforcement will end in an arrest (Alderden & Ullman, 2012a,
2012b; Spohn & Tellis, 2014). Of those cases presented to the prosecutor for
filing consideration, fewer than half will result in felony charges (Alderden &
Ullman, 2012a). Our study shows that attrition may result from the fact that
criminal justice officials support the belief that sexual assault committed
against women of color is less severe than the sexual assault of Whites.
Therefore, it is imperative that police agencies work at dismantling these
beliefs if they want to decrease attrition in these types of cases.
Findings from this study also suggest the need to implement training and
education efforts that improve the response to sexual assault victims. This
implication is particularly timely given the recent executive order establish-
ing the Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Last year, President Barack
Obama established the task force in efforts of providing recommendations
regarding effective policing strategies that increase public trust and respon-
siveness. The task force identified six areas in need of improvement,

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 17

including officer training and education (President’s Task Force on 21st

Century Policing, 2015). Specific to the current study’s findings, the task
force suggested that law enforcement agencies work to (a) increase education
regarding biases, (b) develop appropriate crisis intervention strategies, and
(c) advance victim services. Certainly, this study supports the task force’s call
for increased basic and in-service training regarding the response to special
populations (i.e., women of color).
Given the implications of the present study, there are numerous possible
paths for future research. First, this study contributes to prior work testing the
sexual stratification hypothesis; however, there remains substantial opportu-
nity for testing the sexual stratification hypothesis at the arrest stage. Future
research should replicate this study to determine whether the same findings
cut across different nonurban community types (i.e., rural, suburban), as well
as other urban locations that have different law enforcement–community race
relations as well as non-U.S. locations. Explanations outside the sexual strati-
fication hypothesis such as issues of victim cooperation, prompt reporting,
and presence of witnesses may contribute to further contextualizing the
effects of race and ethnicity in sexual assault criminal justice decision
making.
It is important to note that the present study relied on sexual assault cases
that were reported to two Los Angeles law-enforcement agencies; therefore,
it is limited in generalizability. Although studies of sexual assault that rely on
police reports are limited because they reflect only those cases that become
known to law enforcement, focusing on these cases is justified given that our
study examines police decision making in sexual assault cases that are
reported to law enforcement (Bergen, 2004). Police reports are an appropriate
source of data because they provide detailed information regarding offender,
victim, assault, and case-processing characteristics—information that is nec-
essary for the present study. In addition, such data are appropriate for identi-
fying the factors that affect decision making by police. A final limitation of
the present study includes our inability to verify the accuracy of the informa-
tion in each case file. Although we were provided with a redacted copy of
each case, we cannot know whether the information provided by the investi-
gating officer accurately represents the victim’s, suspect’s, and witnesses’
experiences.
In the end, this study represents a necessary attempt at understanding the
nuances of arrest decisions, a salient issue in the study of criminal justice
response to sexual assault. By finding support for the sexual stratification
hypothesis at the arrest stage, our study indicates that race and ethnicity fac-
tor into police decision making to the detriment of victims of color. Therefore,
our study can inform research and policy that aims to create a more equal

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

18 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

criminal justice system on additional ways that race and ethnicity can signifi-
cantly shape sexual assault case outcomes.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their gratitude to the Los Angeles Police Department and
the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, both of which provided the redacted
case files used for this study.

Authors’ Note
Eryn Nicole O’Neal and Laura O. Beckman contributed equally to this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by the
National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice
[2009-WG-BX-009].

Notes
1. Tellis and Spohn (2008) examined various outcomes (i.e., whether the victim
declined prosecution, whether the police unfounded the crime, and whether the
district attorney filed charges); however, they did not investigate the police deci-
sion to arrest.
2. Social dominance theory is also an appropriate theory that explains relational
dynamics and racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system by using
a multilevel approach that incorporates institutional hierarchy; social context
and intergroup dynamics; and individual-level processes, such as stereotyping,
prejudice, and discrimination (Sidanius & Pratto, 2012). We use the sexual strati-
fication hypothesis, however, because it was specifically formulated to address
differential responses to sexual assault according to the victim/suspect racial/
ethnic dyad.
3. Prior research suggests that police more thoroughly investigate stranger rapes,
but are less likely to arrest stranger suspects (Bachman, 1998; Campbell,
Patterson, Bybee, & Dworkin, 2009; Kerstetter, 1990; LaFree, 1989; Spohn &
Spears, 1996). Stranger sexual assault cases may be more readily believed and
investigated, whereas identification and arrest of a suspect may be easier in cases
with a known suspect.
4. Prior research investigating the sexual stratification hypothesis has included vic-
tims under the legal age of consent (see Tellis & Spohn, 2008).

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 19

5. According to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) handbook, “an offense is

cleared by arrest, or solved for crime reporting purposes, when at least one per-
son is (1) arrested, (2) charged with the commission of the offense, and (3) turned
over to the court for prosecution.” Regarding exceptional clearances, the hand-
book notes that there may be occasions where law enforcement has conducted
an investigation, exhausted all leads, and identified a suspect but is nonetheless
unable to clear an offense by arrest. In this situation, the agency can clear the
offense by exceptional means, provided that each of the following questions can
be answered in the affirmative: Has the investigation definitely established the
identity of the offender? Is the exact location of the offender known so that the
subject could be taken into custody now? Is there enough information to support
an arrest, charge, and turning over to the court for prosecution? Is there some
reason outside law-enforcement control that precludes arresting, charging, and
prosecuting the offender?
6. The race/ethnicity of the involved parties was coded based on the police report.
And, it should be noted that race can be identified in many different ways.
How an individual self-identifies is not necessarily important here, it is how the
police view the victim and suspect. Also, for this study, we collapsed the White
and Asian categories (see Ancheta, 2006; Holcomb, Williams, & Demuth, 2004)
and eliminated cases with missing race information and those with victims and
suspects who were racially categorized as “other.” As Ancheta (2006) argues,
“contemporary race relation controversies appear to have elevated Asian
Americans to the status of honorary whites” (p. 6). We excluded “race other”
for two primary reasons. First, less than 3% of the suspects and victims were
categorized as “other.” Second, this decision was made in efforts of building a
parsimonious model. If we were to include it in the analysis, numerous vari-
ables would have been added to the model (e.g., suspect White/victim other,
suspect Black/victim other, suspect Hispanic/victim other, suspect other/victim
other, suspect other/victim White, suspect other/victim Black, suspect other,
victim Hispanic).

References
Adcox, K. (2000). Doing bad things for good reasons. Police Chief, 67, 16-28.
Alderden, M. A., & Ullman, S. E. (2012a). Creating a more complete and current pic-
ture: Examining police and prosecutor decision-making when processing sexual
assault cases. Violence Against Women, 8, 525-551.
Alderden, M. A., & Ullman, S. E. (2012b). Gender difference or indifference?
Detective decision making in sexual assault cases. Journal of Interpersonal
Violence, 27, 3-22.
Ancheta, A. (2006). Race, rights, and the Asian American experience (2nd ed.).
Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Bachman, R. (1998). The factors related to rape reporting behavior and arrest: New
evidence from the National Crime Victimization Survey. Criminal Justice
Behavior, 25, 8-29.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

20 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

Baldus, D., Pulaski, C., & Woodworth, G. (1983). Comparative review of death sen-
tences: An empirical study of the Georgia experience. The Journal of Criminal
Law and Criminology, 74, 661-753.
Beichner, D., & Spohn, C. (2005). Prosecutorial charging decisions in sexual assault
cases: Examining the impact of a specialized prosecution unit. Criminal Justice
Police Review, 16, 461-498.
Belknap, J. (2007). The invisible woman: Gender, crime, and justice (3rd ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Belsley, D. A., Kuh, E., & Welsch, R. E. (1980). Regression diagnostics: Identifying
influential data and sources of collinearity. New York, NY: John Wiley.
Bergen, R. (2004). Wife rape: Reflections on the past, present, and future. Violence
Against Women, 10, 1407-1416. doi:10.1177/1077801204270557
Bouffard, J. A. (2000). Predicting type of sexual assault case closure from victim,
suspect, and case characteristics. Journal of Criminal Justice, 28, 527-542.
Brown, R. A. (2005). Black, white, and unequal: Examining situational determinants
of arrest decisions from police-suspect encounters. Criminal Justice Studies, 18,
51-68.
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women and rape. New York, NY:
Bantam.
Bryden, D. P., & Lengnick, S. (1997). Rape in the criminal justice system. The
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 87, 1194-1384.
Campbell, R. (2005). What really happened? A validation study of rape survivors’
help-seeking experiences with the legal and medical systems. Violence and
Victims, 20, 55-68.
Campbell, R. (2006). Rape survivors’ experiences with the legal and medical sys-
tems: Do rape victim advocates make a difference? Violence Against Women,
12, 30-45.
Campbell, R., Patterson, D., Bybee, D., & Dworkin, E. R. (2009). Predicting sexual
assault prosecution outcomes: The role of medical forensic evidence collected
by sexual assault nurse examiners. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 36, 712-727.
Du Mont, J., Miller, K.-L., & Myhr, J. L. (2003). The role of “real rape” and “real
victim” stereotypes in the police reporting practices of sexually assaulted women.
Violence Against Women, 9, 466-486.
Eitle, D., D’Alessio, S. J., & Stolzenberg, L. (2002). Racial threat and social control:
A test of the political, economic, and threat of black crime hypothesis. Social
Forces, 81, 557-576.
Eitle, D., & Monahan, S. (2009). Revisiting the racial threat thesis: The role of police
organizational characteristics in predicting race-specific drug arrest rates. Justice
Quarterly, 26, 528-561.
Eitle, D., Stolzenberg, L., & D’Alessio, S. J. (2005). Police organizational factors, the
racial composition of the police, and the probability of arrest. Justice Quarterly,
22, 30-57.
Felson, R. B., & Pare, P. P. (2005). The reporting of domestic violence and sexual assault
by nonstrangers to the police. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 597-610.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 21

Felson, R. B., & Pare, P. P. (2007). Does the criminal justice system treat domestic
violence and sexual assault offenders leniently? Justice Quarterly, 24, 435-459.
Fisher, B. S., Daigle, L. E., Cullen, F. T., & Turner, M. G. (2003). Reporting sexual
victimization to the police and others: Results from a national-level study of col-
lege women. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 30, 6-38.
Fisher, S. Z. (1993). “Just the facts, ma’am”: Lying and the omission of exculpatory
evidence in police reports. New England Law Review, 28, 1-62.
Fox, J. (1991). Regression diagnostics. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
Frazier, P. A., & Haney, B. (1996). Sexual assault cases in the legal system: Police,
prosecutor, and victim perspectives. Law and Human Behavior, 20, 607-628.
Goldstein, J. (1960). Police discretion not to invoke the criminal process: Low visibil-
ity decisions in the administration of justice. The Yale Law Journal, 69, 543-594.
Greenfield, L. A. (1997). Sex offenses and offenders: An analysis of data on rape and
sexual assault. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics.
Holcomb, J. E., Williams, M. R., & Demuth, S. (2004). White female victims and
death penalty disparity research. Justice Quarterly, 21, 877-902.
Kennedy, R. (1997). Race, crime, and the law. New York, NY: Vintage.
Kerstetter, W. (1990). Gateway to justice: Police and prosecutorial response to sexual
assaults against women. Criminology, 81, 267-313.
Kingsnorth, R. F., Lopez, J., Wentworth, J., & Cummings, D. (1998). Adult sexual
assault: The role of racial/ethnic composition in prosecution and sentencing.
Journal of Criminal Justice, 26, 359-371.
Kingsnorth, R. F., MacIntosh, R. C., Berdahl, T., Blades, C., & Rossi, S. (2001).
Domestic violence: The role of interracial/ethnic dyads in criminal court process-
ing. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 17, 123-141.
LaFree, G. (1980). The effect of sexual stratification by race on official reactions to
rape. American Sociological Review, 45, 842-854.
LaFree, G. (1981). Reactions to social problems: Police decisions in sexual assault
cases. Social Problems, 28, 582-594.
LaFree, G. (1989). Rape and criminal justice: The social construction of sexual
assault. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Liska, A. E. (1992). Social threat and social control. Albany: State University of
New York.
Maier, S. L. (2008). “I have heard horrible stories . . .”: Rape victim advocates’ per-
ceptions of the revictimization of rape victims by the police and medical system.
Violence Against Women, 14, 786-808.
Mastrofski, S. D. (2004). Controlling street-level police discretion. The ANNALS of
the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 593, 100-118.
Miller, J. (2008). Getting played: African American girls, urban inequality, and gen-
dered violence. New York: New York University Press.
Parker, K. F., & Maggard, S. R. (2005). Structural theories and race-specific drug
arrests: What structural factors account for the rise in race-specific drug arrests
over time? Crime & Delinquency, 51, 521-547.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

22 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

Patton, T. O., & Snyder-Yuly, J. (2007). Any four black men will do: Rape, race, and
the ultimate scapegoat. Journal of Black Studies, 37, 859-895.
Planty, M., Langton, L., Krebs, C., Berzofsky, M., & Smiley-McDonald, H. (2013).
Female victims of sexual violence, 1994–2010. Washington, DC: U.S. Department
of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Pratt, T., & Godsey, T. W. (2003). Social support, inequality, and homicide: A cross-
national test of an integrated theoretical model. Criminology, 41, 101-133.
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015). Final report of the
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Washington, DC: Office of
Community Oriented Policing Services.
Reiner, R. (2010). The politics of the police (4th ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University
Press.
Rennison, C. M. (2002). Rape and sexual assault: Reporting to police and medical
attention, 1992–2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of
Justice Statistics.
Rose, T., & Unnithan, P. (2015). In or out of the group? Police subculture and
occupational stress. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies &
Management, 38, 279-294. doi:10.1108/PIJPSM-10-2014-0111
Rowe, M. (2007). Rendering visible the invisible: Police discretion, professionalism
and decision-making. Policing & Society, 17, 279-294.
Shaw, J., & Campbell, R. (2013). Predicting sexual assault kit submission among
adolescent rape cases treated in forensic nurse examiner programs. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 28, 3400-3417.
Sidanius, J., & Pratto, F. (2012). Social dominance theory. In P. A. Van Lange, A. W.
Kruglanski, & E. Tory Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology
(Vol. 2, pp. 418-438). London, England: Sage.
Sommers, I., Goldstein, J., & Baskin, D. (2014). The intersection of victims’ and
offenders’ sex and race/ethnicity on prosecutorial decisions for violent crimes.
Justice System Journal, 35, 178-204.
Spohn, C. (1994). Black-on-Black and Black-on-White crime: A comparison of sex-
ual assault case outcomes. In P. R. Kedia (Ed.), Black on Black crime: Facing
facts, challenging fictions. Bristol, IN: Wyndham Hall Press.
Spohn, C. (2000). Thirty years of sentencing reform: The quest for a racially neutral
sentencing process. In J. Horney (Ed.), Policies, processes, and decisions of the
criminal justice system (Criminal Justice, Vol. 3, pp. 427-501). Washington, DC:
U.S. Department of Justice.
Spohn, C., & Holleran, D. (2001). Prosecuting sexual assault: A comparison of charg-
ing decisions in sexual assault cases involving strangers, acquaintances, and inti-
mate partners. Justice Quarterly, 18, 651-689.
Spohn, C., & Spears, J. (1996). The effect of offender and victim characteristics on
sexual assault case processing decisions. Justice Quarterly, 13, 649-679.
Spohn, C., & Tellis, K. M. (2012). Policing and prosecuting sexual assault in Los
Angeles city and county: A collaborative study in partnership with the Los
Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

O’Neal et al 23

the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (NIJ 2009-WG-BX-009).

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
Spohn, C., & Tellis, K. M. (2014). Policing and prosecuting sexual assault: Inside the
criminal justice system. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Stolzenberg, L., D’Alessio, S. J., & Eitle, D. (2004). A multilevel test of racial threat
theory. Criminology, 42, 673-698.
Tasca, M., Rodriguez, N., Spohn, C., & Koss, M. P. (2012). Police decision making
in sexual assault cases: Predictors of suspect identification and arrest. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 28, 1157-1177.
Tellis, K. M., & Spohn, C. C. (2008). The sexual stratification hypothesis revisited:
Testing assumptions about simple versus aggravated rape. Journal of Criminal
Justice, 36, 252-261.
Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (1998). Prevalence, incidence, and consequences of
violence against women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women
Survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of
Justice.
Tyler, T. R. (1989). The psychology of procedural justice: A test of the group-
value model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 830-838.
doi:10.1037//0022-3514.57.5.830
Tyler, T. R., Degoey, P., & Smith, H. (1996). Understanding why the justice of
group procedures matters: A test of the psychological dynamics of the group-
value model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 913-930.
doi:10.1037//0022-3514.70.5.913
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Census of population, P94-171 redistricting data file.
Washington, DC: Author.
Walsh, A. (1987). The sexual stratification hypothesis and sexual assault in light of
the changing conceptions of race. Criminology, 25, 153-173.
Wolfgang, M., & Reidel, M. (1973). Race, judicial discretion, and the death penalty.
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 407,
119-133.
Zatz, M. S. (2000). The convergence of race, ethnicity, gender, and class on court
decisionmaking: Looking toward the 21st century. In J. Horney (Ed.), Policies,
processes, and decisions of the criminal justice system (Criminal Justice, Vol. 3,
pp. 503-552). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.

Author Biographies
Eryn Nicole O’Neal is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice
and Criminology at Sam Houston State University. Her research has appeared in a
variety of scholarly journals, including Violence Against Women, Feminist
Criminology, Women & Criminal Justice, and Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.
She recently received the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Division on
Women and Crime (DWC) Student Paper Competition Award for her research exam-
ining victim cooperation in intimate partner sexual assault cases. She also received the
ASC DWC 2015 Graduate Scholar Award.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016

24 Journal of Interpersonal Violence 

Laura O. Beckman is a PhD candidate and research assistant at Arizona State

University. Her research focuses on issues in race, ethnicity, crime and justice.
Cassia Spohn is a foundation professor and the director of the School of Criminology
and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. She is the author or co-author of
seven books, including Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault: Inside the Criminal
Justice System, which was published in 2014. Her research interests include prosecu-
torial and judicial decision making; the intersections of race, ethnicity, crime and
justice; and sexual assault case processing decisions.

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Monash University on June 4, 2016