Male subjects assigned higher consent ratings than females for all stimulus combinations. Women who claim to have been raped are often not believed. Disbelief takes the form of inferring consent when the woman has claimed nonconsent. These inferences are generally made from the complainant's behavior before, during, and after the rape. Issues of consent have rarely been examined experimentally.
Consent is a central question in rape trials.
If the identity of the suspect is not in doubt, it is essentially the sole issue. The other factor, timeliness of reporting, has also been found to affect the conviction rate for rape. The decision is simplified, in that the crime can be fixed without allowing for the possibility of a reduced charge. In a real trial a rape charge may be reduced to one of sexual assault, which carries less severe penalties. Relieving the subjects of the complexities of a jury setting allows us to focus on the private cognitions underlying reasoning about rape.