Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-07T20:26:59.138Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rationality of Sexual Offending: Testing a Deterrence/Rational Choice Conception of Sexual Assault

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Ronet Bachman ,
Raymond Paternoster  and
Sally Ward
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Using a combination of hypothetical scenarios and survey-type questions, this study investigates the effect of the context of the offense, formal sanctions, informal sanctions, and moral beliefs on self-reported projections to commit sexual assault. Male college students read and responded to five scenarios each describing a hypothetical sexual assault by a male. Respondents were asked to estimate the certainty of formal and informal punishment for the scenario male, the extent to which they believed the male's actions were morally wrong, and the likelihood that they would do what the male did under the same circumstances. We found that projections to commit sexual assault were affected by two circumstances of the incident, the likelihood that the male would be formally sanctioned (dismissed from the university or arrested) and the respondent's moral beliefs. The significant deterrent effect observed for formal sanction threats was not invariant, however. The fear of formal sanctions had no effect when respondents were inhibited by their moral evaluation of the incident. The deterrent effect of formal sanction threats did not vary by the level of social censure for the scenario male's actions. The implications of these finding for previous and subsequent deterrence research are discussed.

Type
Rape and Deterrence
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , 1992 , pp. 343 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by The Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This research was supported by a Central University Research Fund Grant by the University of New Hampshire, and Dr. Bachman's work on this project was supported under a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire. The authors would like to thank Kirk Williams, Ellen Cohen, and Susan White for their assistance in the development of the methodology used here and Kimberly Keezel for her meticulous help in data preparation. We would also like to thank Daniel Nagin and the anonymous reviewers for their insights and comments. Points of view and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

References

References

Amir, Menachem (1971) Patterns in Forcible Rape. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Andenaes, Johannes (1974) Punishment and Deterrence. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Bachman, Ronet, & Ward, Sally (1990) “What Constitutes Rape: A Factorial Survey Analysis of a Student Population.” Presented at 1990 meeting of American Sociological Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Berlin, Fred S. (1983) “Sex Offenders: A Biomedical Perspective and a Status Report on Biomedical Treatment,” in Greer, J. G. & Stuart, I. R., eds., The Sexual Aggressor: Current Perspectives on Treatment. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.Google Scholar
Brownmiller, Susan (1976) Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. New York: Bantam.Google Scholar
Bourque, Linda B. (1989) Defining Rape. Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, John (1989) Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cherniak, Christopher (1986) Minimal Rationality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, Ronald V., & Cornish, Derek B. (1985) “Modeling Offender's Decisions: A Framework for Research and Policy,” in Tonry, M. & Morris, N., eds., 6 Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cornish, Derek B., & Clarke, Ronald V. (1986) The Reasoning Criminal: Rational Choice Perspectives on Offending. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornish, Derek B., & Clarke, Ronald V. (1987) “Understanding Crime Displacement: An Application of Rational Choice Theory,” 25 Criminology 933.Google Scholar
Erickson, Patricia G. (1976) “Deterrence and Deviance: The Example of Cannabis Prohibition,” 67 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 222.Google Scholar
Estrich, Susan (1987) Real Rape. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Etzioni, Amitai (1988) The Moral Dimension: Toward a New Economics. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Fishbein, Martin, & Ajzen, Icek (1975) Belief, Attitudes, Intention and Behavior. New York: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Geerken, Michael R., & Gove, Walter R. (1975) “Deterrence: Some Theoretical Considerations,” 9 Law & Society Rev. 497.Google Scholar
Gibbs, Jack P. (1975) Crime, Punishment and Deterrence. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., & Bursik, Robert (1990) “Conscience, Significant Others, and Rational Choice: Extending the Deterrence Model,” 24 Law & Society Rev. 837.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., Finley, Nancy, & Glaser, Deborah (1984) “Labor Force Participation, Sex Role Attitudes, and Female Crime,” 65 Social Science Q. 703.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., & Green, Donald E. (1980) “Legal Punishment, Social Disapproval and Internalization as Inhibitors of Illegal Behavior,” 71 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 325.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., & Green, Donald E. (1981) “Deterrence and the Morally Committed,” 22 Sociological Q. 1.Google Scholar
Grasmick, Harold G., & Scott, Wilbur J. (1982) “Tax Evasion and Mechanisms of Social Control: A Comparison with Grand and Petty Theft,” 2 J. of Economic Psychology 213.Google Scholar
Groth, A. Nicholas (1979) Men Who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groth, A. Nicholas, Burgess, Ann W., & Holmstrom, Lynda L. (1977) “Rape: Power, Anger, and Sexuality,” 134 American J. of Psychiatry 1239.Google Scholar
Jensen, Gary F., Erickson, Maynard L., & Gibbs, Jack P. (1978) “Perceived Risk of Punishment and Self-reported Delinquency,” 57 Social Forces 57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, Gary F., & Stitt, B. G. (1982) “Words and Misdeeds: Hypothetical Choices versus Past Behavior as Measures of Deviance,” in Hagan, J., ed., Deterrence Reconsidered: Methodological Innovations. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Kahneman, Daniel, Slovic, Paul, & Tversky, Amos, eds. (1982) Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanin, Eugene J. (1957) “Male Aggression in Dating-Courtship Relations,” 64 American J. of Sociology 197.Google Scholar
Kanin, Eugene J. (1967) “Reference Groups and Sex Conduct Norm Violations,” 8 Sociological Q. 495.Google Scholar
Kanin, Eugene J., & Parcell, Stanley R. (1977) “Sexual Aggression: A Second Look at the Offended Female,” 6 Archives of Sexual Behavior 67.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, C., & Kanin, E. J. (1957) “Male Sex Aggression on a University Campus,” 22 American Sociological Rev. 52.Google Scholar
Klepper, Steven, & Nagin, Daniel (1989a) “Tax Compliance and Perceptions of the Risks of Detection and Criminal Prosecution,” 23 Law & Society Rev. 209.Google Scholar
Klepper, Steven, & Nagin, Daniel (1989b) “The Deterrent Effect of Perceived Certainty and Severity of Punishment Revisited,” 27 Criminology 721.Google Scholar
Koss, Mary, Gidycz, Christine A., & Wisniewski, Nadine (1987) “The Scope of Rape: Incidence and Prevalencce of Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National Sample of Higher Education Students,” 55 J. of Consulting & Clinical Psychology 162.Google Scholar
Lanza-Kaduce, Lonn (1988) “Perceptual Deterrence and Drinking and Driving among College Students,” 26 Criminology 321.Google Scholar
Lott, Bernice, Reilly, Mary Ellen, & Howard, Dale R. (1982) “Sexual Assault and Harassment: A Campus Community Case Study,” 8 Signs 296.Google Scholar
Maddala, G. S. (1987) “Limited Dependent Variable Models Using Panel Data,” 22 J. of Human Resources 307.Google Scholar
Malamuth, Neil (1981) “Rape Proclivity among Males,” 37 J. of Social Issues, Fall, pp. 138–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malamuth, Neil, & Check, James (1983) “Sexual Arousal to Rape Depictions: Individual Differences,” 92 J. of Abnormal Psychology 55.Google Scholar
Malamuth, Neil, Haber, Scott, & Feshbach, Seymour (1980) “Testing Hypotheses regarding Rape: Exposure to Sexual Violence, Sex Differences, and the ‘Normality’ of Rapists,” 14 J. of Research in Personality 121.Google Scholar
Medea, Andra, & Thompson, Kathleen (1974) Against Rape. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.Google Scholar
Miller, Susan L., & Simpson, Sally S. (1991) “Courtship Violence and Social Control: Does Gender Matter?” 25 Law & Society Rev. 335.Google Scholar
Muehlenhard, Charlene L., & Linton, Melaney A. (1987) “Date Rape and Sexual Aggression in Dating Situations: Incidence and Risk Factors,” 34 (2) J. of Counseling Psychology 186.Google Scholar
Murray, Glenn, & Erickson, Patricia (1987) “Cross-sectional versus Longitudinal Research: An Empirical Comparison of Projected and Subsequent Criminality,” 16 Social Science Research 107.Google Scholar
Nagin, Daniel, & Paternoster, Raymond (1991a) “On the Relationship of Past to Future Participation in Delinquency,” 29 Criminology 163.Google Scholar
Nagin, Daniel, & Paternoster, Raymond (1991b) “The Preventive Effects of the Perceived Risk of Arrest: Testing an Expanded Conception of Deterrence,” 29 Criminology 561.Google Scholar
Nisbett, Richard, & Ross, Lee (1980) Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Paternoster, Raymond (1987) “The Deterrent Effect of the Perceived Certainty and Severity of Punishment: A Review of the Evidence and Issues,” 4 Justice Q. 173.Google Scholar
Paternoster, Raymond, Saltzman, Linda E., Chiricos, Theodore G., & Waldo, Gordon P. (1982) “Perceived Risk and Deterrence: Methodological Artifacts in Perceptual Deterrence Research,” 73 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 1238.Google Scholar
Paternoster, Raymond, Saltzman, Linda E., Chiricos, Theodore G., & Waldo, Gordon P. (1983) “Estimating Perceptual Stability and Deterrent Effects: The Role of Perceived Legal Punishment in the Inhibition of Criminal Involvement,” 74 J. of Criminal Law & Criminology 270.Google Scholar
Piliavin, Irving, Gartner, Rosemary, Thorton, Craig, & Matsueda, Ross (1986) “Crime, Deterrence, and Rational Choice,” 51 American Sociological Rev. 101.Google Scholar
Rada, Richard T. (1978) Clinical Aspects of the Rapist. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Rossi, Peter, & Anderson, Andy (1982) “The Factorial Survey Approach: An Introduction,” in Rossi, P. H. & Nock, S. L., eds., Measuring Social Judgments. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Sanday, Peggy R. (1990) Fraternity Gang Rape: Sex, Brotherhood, and Privilege on Campus. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar
Schur, Edwin M. (1984) Labeling Women Deviant. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Schwendinger, Julia R., & Schwendinger, Herman (1983) Rape and Inequality. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Smart, Carol (1989) Feminism and the Power of Law. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Thornhill, Randy, Thornhill, Nancy, & Dizinno, Gerard A. (1986) “The Biology of Rape,” in Tomaselli, S. & Porter, R., eds., Rape. London: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Thurman, Quint C. (1989) “General Prevention of Tax Evasion: A Factorial Survey Approach,” 5 J. of Quantitative Criminology 127.Google Scholar
Tieger, Todd (1981) “Self-rated Likelihood of Raping and the Social Perception of Rape,” 15 J. of Research in Personality 147.Google Scholar
Tittle, Charles R. (1977) “Sanction, Fear and the Maintenance of Social Order,” 55 Social Forces 579.Google Scholar
Tittle, Charles R. (1980) Sanctions and Social Deviance. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Tittle, Charles R., & Logan, Charles H. (1973) “Sanctions and Deviance: Evidence and Remaining Questions,” 7 Law & Society Rev. 371.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice (1990) Crime in the United States, 1989. Uniform Crime Reports, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice (1991) Criminal Victimization in the United States, 1989. National Crime Survey Report NCJ-129391. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Waldo, Gordon P., & Chiricos, Theodore G. (1972) “Perceived Penal Sanction and Self-reported Criminality: A Neglected Approach to Deterrence Research,” 19 Social Problems 552.Google Scholar
Walker, Marcia J., & Brodsky, Stanley L., eds. (1976) Sexual Assault. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.Google Scholar
Ward, Sally, Chapman, Kathy, Cohn, Ellen, White, Susan, & Williams, Kirk (1991) “Acquaintance Rape and the College Social Scene,” 40 Family Relations 65.Google Scholar
Warshaw, Robin, & Koss, Mary P. (1988) I Never Called It Rape. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Williams, Kirk R., & Hawkins, Richard (1986) “Perceptual Research on General Deterrence: A Critical Overview,” 20 Law & Society Rev. 545.Google Scholar
Williams, Kirk R., & Hawkins, Richard (1989) “The Meaning of Arrest for Wife Assault,” 27 Criminology 163.Google Scholar
Zimring, Franklin, & Hawkins, Gordon (1973) Deterrence: The Legal Threat in Crime Control. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar

Statute Cited

Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act of 1990, Public Law 101–542.Google Scholar