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                            Funding & Awards
 Police Decision Making In Sexual Assault Cases: An Analysis of Crimes Reported to the Los Angeles Police Department, 2006-2008
Note:
              This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Awardee
              Arizona State University
Award #
              2009-WG-BX-0009
Location
                    Tempe, AZ
Awardee County
              Maricopa
Congressional District
              9
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2009
Total funding (to date)
              $232,857
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY09 Research and Evaluation on Sexual and Teen Dating Violence
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $204,492)
The traumatic physical and emotional consequences of sexual assault may be further exacerbated by the victim's subsequent experiences in the criminal justice system: questioning by officials in the aftermath of the sexual assault, failure to keep the victim apprised of the status of the case, and realization that an arrest will not be made or charges filed or that a conviction will not result.  Understanding and evaluating the response of the criminal justice system to sexual violence is critically important, as is identifying system-generated barriers to reporting.
The purpose of this study is to document the extent of case attrition in sexual assault cases and to identify the factors that increase the likelihood of case attrition at the law enforcement level.  Researchers will use quantitative data from a stratified random sample of sexual assaults reported to the Los Angeles Police Department (LADP) from January of 2006 to December of 2008 and will collect qualitative data from police officers who have handled sexual assault cases during this time period to pursue four interrelated objectives:  1) to document the extent of case attrition and to identify the stages of the criminal justice process where attrition is most likely to occur; 2) to identify the case complexities and evidentiary factors that affect the likelihood of attrition in sexual assault cases; 3) to identify the predictors of case outcomes in sexual assault cases; and 4) to provide a comprehensive analysis of the factors that lead police to unfound the charges in sexual assault cases.
The project is a collaborative effort involving the LAPD, Arizona State University, and the University of California at Los Angeles. Researchers will obtain quantitative data from a subset of felony sexual offenses reported to the LAPD from January of 2006 through December of 2008 (total reports during this period = 3,500).  The project also will entail the collection of qualitative data designed to identify informal decision rules that guide case processing decisions in a particular jurisdiction. Researchers will interview 100 police officers who investigated reports of sexual assault during the study period including those officers who made decisions to unfound cases that were reported to the LAPD in 2008.
The project will result in a report on best practices in the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases, will inform criminal justice policy and practice and improve the response of the criminal justice system to crimes of sexual violence.
ca/ncf
Supplemental Award 1 (Fiscal Year 2010, $28,365)
The original award involves collection of data on sexual assault cases reported to the Los Angeles Police Department.  The  Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has recently agreed to collaborate and provide the same types of data currently being provided by the LAPD - background and outcome data on all sexual assaults reported to the LASD from 2005 to 2009, redacted case files for a sample (approximately 500 cases) of cases from 2008, and interviews with deputies who handle sexual assault cases. This means that data on all sexual assaults in Los Angeles County will now be available and outcomes across two different agencies can be compared (as well across divisions/bureaus within each agency).  The supplemental funding will support the collection of data from the Sheriff's Department.
nca/ncf


  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Policing and Prosecuting Sexual Assault Against Women of Color: Applying Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality Frameworks to Examine Arrest and Charging Decisions in Cases Involving Black and Latina Victims
                  "Most False Reports Involve Teens": Officer Attitudes Toward Teenage Sexual Assault Complainants-A Qualitative Analysis
                  "Victim is Not Credible" The Influence of Rape Culture on Police Perceptions of Sexual Assault Complainants
                  The Sexual Stratification Hypothesis: Is the Decision to Arrest Influenced by the Victim/Suspect Racial/Ethnic Dyad?
                  Sexual Assault Case Outcomes: Disentangling the Overlapping Decisions of Police and Prosecutors
                  Victim Cooperation in Intimate Partner Sexual Assault Cases: A Mixed Methods Examination
                  Prosecuting Intimate Partner Sexual Assault: Legal and Extra-Legal Factors That Influence Charging Decisions
                  Unfounding Sexual Assault: Examining the Decision To Unfound and Identifying False Reports
                  Policing & Prosecuting Sexual Assault: Inside the Criminal Justice System
                  Partners in Research: Lessons Learned in Los Angeles
                                                                      NIJ Journal,
                  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 the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

  
Date Created: September 22, 2009
    
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