Rationality in Police Processing of Sexual Assualt Claims: Case Dispositions and UCR Reporting
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UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 5-1-2012 Formal, Bounded, and "Hyper" Rationality in Police Processing of Sexual Assualt Claims: Case Dispositions and UCR Reporting Brooke M. Wagner University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Criminology Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Repository Citation Wagner, Brooke M., "Formal, Bounded, and "Hyper" Rationality in Police Processing of Sexual Assualt Claims: Case Dispositions and UCR Reporting" (2012). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 1641. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/4332622 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ` FORMAL, BOUNDED, AND “HYPER” RATIONALITY IN POLICE PROCESSING OF SEXUAL ASSAULT CLAIMS: CASE DISPOSITIONS AND UCR REPORTING By Brooke M. Wagner A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Department of Sociology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2012 1 THE GRADUATE COLLEGE We recommend the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Brooke M. Wagner entitled Formal, Bounded, and “Hyper” Rationality in Police Processing of Sexual Assault Claims: Case Depositions and UCR Reporting be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Department of Sociology Andrew Spivak, Committee Chair Barbara Brents, Committee Member Simon Gottschalk, Committee Member William Sousa, Graduate College Representative Ronald Smith, Ph. D., Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate College May 2012 ii Abstract Over the past three decades, many scholars have examined the prevalence, consequences, and official sanctions of sexual violence. The following study builds on past research by quantitatively examining police and crime analyst discretion in sexual assault claims. Using recently accessed data from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department from 2008 through 2010 and utilizing labeling theory, rape myth literature, and the theoretical perspectives of justice processing outcomes, I assess the extent to which police officers and crime analysts are influenced by extralegal variables like victim and offender’s race, victim’s age, the location of assault, incident characteristics, and victim’s background. I use binary logistic regression to explore the use of formal and bounded rationality in case attrition by police officers and crime analysts for sexual assault claims. Specifically, I examine the extent to which socially constructed stereotypes about what constitutes ‘real’ rape and ‘real’ rape victims influenced whether or not a sexual assault claim was deemed founded, or legitimate, by the police and whether or not the case was reported to the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) as a rape or attempted rape. Results indicate that police officers and crime analysts employ bounded rationality while determining if a claim should be founded or reported to the UCR. In this analysis, victim’s age, the victim offender relationship, incident characteristics, victim’s behavior before and after the offense, and the victim’s background all influenced the likelihood of claims being deemed founded, as well as being reported to the UCR as rape or attempted rape incidents. Many of the variables found to significantly impact the dependent variables are also associated with rape myths, generating additional questions about the objectivity and/or motivations of members of the criminal justice system. iii Though initial results imply the significance of culturally constructed notions of ‘real’ rape in determining the legitimacy of sexual assault claims, I am reluctant to claim that the observed bounded rationality is due to rape myth acceptance by key members of the criminal justice system. Instead, I suggest that police officers and crime analysts may place bureaucratic needs of the criminal justice system over victim needs, a process I call “hyper-rationality.” Finally, I discuss both the theoretical and political implications of this research. iv Acknowledgements I am grateful to a number of people for their guidance and support. My past and future successes are largely shaped by my advisory committee. Dr. Andrew L. Spivak deserves particular credit for helping me develop my dissertation research, teaching me SAS, and always being available to answer my questions. Dr. Barbara G. Brents was an influential mentor from the moment I began graduate school. Dr. Brents was the chair of my Masters committee and taught me the importance of passion, application, and activism. Dr. Simon Gottschalk also deserves recognition for his guidance and insight over the years. With his encouragement, I have presented at several Symbolic Interactionist conferences and developed an area of specialization in Social Psychology. I would also like to thank Dr. William Sousa, Dr. David Dickens, and Dr. Andrea Fontana for supporting this research and offering their time to discuss both this project and many others through my time in graduate school. I also owe gratitude to Dr. Jennifer Keene, Dr. Robert Futrell, Dr. Michael Borer, and Dr. Shannon Monnat for offering mentorship in the classroom and while on the job market. The faculty in the Department of Sociology (DOS), as a whole, was very generous with time and patience while nurturing my academic development. I would like to thank the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) for granting me access to the Las Vegas Sexual Assault Dataset. In particular I would like to thank Officer Steve Pace for inviting me to work with the LVMPD in the quest to reduce sexual violence in Las Vegas. I am also grateful to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Graduate College, and UNLV Graduate Student and Professional Association (GPSA) for awarding me v funding that was partially responsible for my ability to complete my dissertation in a timely manner. Dr. Fredrick Krauss deserves recognition for all his help with Graduate College bureaucracy and being an inspiration for completing this journey. I would like to thank all my friends that encouraged me throughout this process. I am fortunate for my DOS office mates Sarah St. John and Dan Krystosek for being extremely supportive and tolerant of my excessive clutter and constant presence in the office. I am also grateful for my friendship with Christina Nicholas, who has always been empathetic to my struggles and willing to celebrate my success. I would like to thank the CSEC team for becoming a pillar of support over the past few months (especially Jenny H, Jenni W, Raeven, and Gabby). I am thankful toward Allison Sahl and Jenna Findlay for offering a hand in friendship, which made my final years in the DOS more enjoyable. When coming to UNLV, I left a very large and supportive family back in Indiana. Though my family did not always understand what I was doing or why I was doing it, they always encouraged me to seek happiness. I am thankful to my sister Wendy for being a voice of sympathy during difficult times. I am grateful for my father Scott Wagner for always encouraging me to ask questions and seek answers. I want to thank my parents Delane & Michael Sarkey for teaching me what it means to be responsible. I am also indebted to my grandmother Dorothy Hoffman, who offered me a home when I was a young single mom. My accomplishments today would not have been possible without the kindness, help, and lessons I received from my family. Finally, I would like to thank my family in Las Vegas for continuing to be a positive influence in my life while I pursued my academic ambitions. In particular, my partner Brandon Biggs, aka Brandon Awesome, deserves special recognition for putting his vi dreams on hold so I could reach mine, for not allowing me to quit when things were rough, and for always managing the family and household when I needed to devote more time to my studies. Thank you Brandon. I also owe gratitude to my two children. Thank you Scott for sharing me with my work over the past 7 years and inspiring me to dream big, and thank you Rebel for giving me the final push I needed to complete this journey. To anyone I missed… Thank you vii Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents viii List of Tables ix List of Figures x Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspectives on Deviance and Sexual Assault 20 Chapter 3: Methodology 56 Chapter 4: Results 66 Chapter 5: Discussion/Conclusion 88 Appendix A: Data Coding and Procedures in the SAS System 108 References 116 Author’s CV 144 viii List of Tables Table 1 Variable Definitions and Frequencies. 65 Table 2 Correlation Matrix for Dependent Variables. 75 Table 3 Descriptive Table Across Dependent Variables. 76 Table 4 Bivariate Logistic Regression. Coefficients (B) and Odds Ratios (Exp B) for H1 and H2. 78 Table 5 Bivariate Logistic Regression. Coefficients (B) and Odds Ratios (Exp B) for H3 and H4. 80 Table 6 Bivariate Logistic Regression. Coefficients (B) and Odds Ratios (Exp B) for H5. 81 Table 7 Bivariate Logistic Regression. Coefficients (B) and Odds Ratios (Exp B) for H6 and H7.