Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Kile, Marilyn J" <>]

I don't think the answer lies in not talking about the reporting rates
in our prevention programming as much as changing the reality of the
situation.  Students and most people in our society are aware the rape
is underreported and convictions are rare whether we talk about it or
not.  Many perpetrators know it because they have gotten away with it at
least once already.

We need to concentrate on removing the barriers and increasing the
incentives to reporting.  We can teach people that if they want to "put
the rapists behind bars" they need to 
-believe and support survivors so they are encouraged to report
-place responsibility for the crime on the perpetrator not the victim
-expect a vigorous investigation by police
-expect a higher prosecution rate from the DA
-be willing to convict according to the evidence if they are on a jury
-expect sentencing to match the crime.

Only when the conviction rates are higher will our laws serve as a
greater disincentive to perpetrators.

Marilyn J. Kile, LCSW
Sexual Assault Prevention Coordinator
2022 Ambrose Health Center
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
800 W. Main St.
Whitewater, WI  53190
www.uww.edu/sart
262-472-1300 X2244
FAX 262-472-1435
 
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 -----Original Message-----
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 09:27:30 -0800 (PST)
From: "William O'Donohue, Ph.D." 
<>
Subject: Re: SAPC Digest, Vol 856, Issue 1
To: 

Message-ID: 
<>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Gary Becker, the Nobel Prize winning economist has an interesting
economic account of crime.  He looks at incentives and risks from the
criminal's point of view and indicates that at times it may seem
rationale, given these, to commit the crime (this supposedly came to him
once when he parked illegally).  He then talks abt how to manipulate
variables such as surveillance, prosecution rates punishment, etc.  to
reduce crime by making these stronger disincentives.  There are
surveillance expenses (which are key as the criminal asks, what is the
probability of getting caught?) and then punishment expenses.
   
  Related to rape, there is a well known stat that very few are
reported, fewer are prosecuted, fewer result in convictions.  From
Becker's point of view, we might not want to report all these in any
prevention programming as it seems it could have a counterproductive
role.  Second, what can we do to counter all this?  We had an assistant
district attorney do a videotape in which he talked about how he would
prosecute vigorously and what the max sentences were.  We viewed these
as altering Bandura's outcome expectancies (in his social learning
model).
   
  General question: Assuming some validity in Becker's analysis, what
can best be done--practically-- (by campus discipline policies,
disseminating these, role of campus and local police etc, rape
prevention programmers) to try to change a potential rapist's economic
analysis?
   
  I ask this, because if the justice/legal system is broken along the
lines of Becker's analysis, it is tough (it would place real ceilings)
to do effective prevention efforts.
   
  Thanks,
   
  Bill