Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
[Preprint]. 2024 Jul 30:rs.3.rs-4675100.
doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4675100/v1.

Experiences of women sexual assault survivors with police in the early aftermath of assault: Results from a large-scale prospective study

Sara Rodríguez  1 , Benjamin Mclean  1 , Andrew Tungate  1 , Andrea Massa  1 , Jeffrey Ho  2 , Grace Burud  1 , Megan Lechner  3 , Jenny Black  4 , Jennie Buchanan  5 , Gordon Reed  6 , Melissa Platt  7 , Ralph Riviello  8 , Catherine Rossi  9 , Israel Liberzon  10 , Sheila Rauch  11 , Kenneth Bollen  1 , Samuel Mclean  1 , Sandra Martin  1
Affiliations

Experiences of women sexual assault survivors with police in the early aftermath of assault: Results from a large-scale prospective study

Sara Rodríguez et al. Res Sq. .

Update in

Abstract

Over 100,000 women present for emergency care after sexual assault (SA) annually in the United States. To our knowledge, no large prospective studies have assessed SA survivor experiences with police. Women SA survivors enrolled at 13 sites (n = 706), and 630 survivors reported on their police interactions. Most women were interested in speaking with police, spoke with police, and reported positive experiences. Latinas and women with lower education and income were less likely to speak with police. Trauma and posttraumatic stress symptoms were associated with more negative experiences. Qualitative comments provide key points for police to consider when speaking with survivors.

Keywords: police; posttraumatic stress; sexual assault; women’s health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: Sara Rodriguez declares she has no conflict of interest. Benjamin McLean declares he has no conflict of interest. Andrew Tungate declares he has no conflict of interest. Andrea A. Massa declares she has no conflict of interest. Jeffrey Ho declares he has no conflict of interest. Grace A. Burud declares she has no conflict of interest. Megan Lechner declares she has no conflict of interest. Jenny Black declares she has no conflict of interest. Jennie Buchanan declares she has no conflict of interest. Gordon Reed declares he has no conflict of interest. Melissa Platt declares she has no conflict of interest. Ralph Riviello declares he has no conflict of interest. Catherine Rossi declares she has no conflict of interest. Israel Liberzon declares he has no conflict of interest. Sheila A.M. Rauch declares she has no conflict of interest. Kenneth Bollen declares he has no conflict of interest. Samuel A. McLean declares he has no conflict of interest. Sandra L. Martin declares she has no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Depiction of study flow
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 2015. [https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html.
    1. Smith SG, Zhang X, Basile KC, Merrick MT, Wang J, Kresnow M et al. The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2015 Data Brief - Updated Release. Data Brief. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2018. November 2018.
    1. McQueen K, Murphy-Oikonen J, Miller A, Chambers L. Sexual assault: women’s voices on the health impacts of not being believed by police. BMC Womens Health. 2021;21(1):217. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahrens CE. Being silenced: the impact of negative social reactions on the disclosure of rape. Am J Community Psychol. 2006;38(3–4):263–74. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cuevas AC, Sabina C. SEXUAL ASSAULT AMONG LATINAS (SALAS) STUDY. Department of Justice; 2010.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources