Blaming the Victim

Abstract

In recent years, public interest and concern about the plight of the rape victim has increased. A recurrent theme in much of the popular literature about rape is that rape victims are blamed for their circumstances. The present study considers how judgments made by police (N = 368)and nurses (N = 312) regarding victim responsibility are influenced by the type of crime, the victim's marital status, her dress, her relationship with the assailant, evidence of her resistence, the extent of her injuries, and attitudinal and sociodemographic characteristics of the police and nurses. Evaluations of victim responsibility were elicited by vignettes. Findings suggest that, in general, victims are given very little responsibility for rape, and that police and nurses tend to make similar evaluations regarding the victim's participation in a crime. Two major occupa- tional differences are described. Non-white police officers tend t o blame victims of rape and beating somewhat more than white police officers. Nurses who see themselves as likely victims of a crime blame rape victims more than those who view their victimization as remote. Attitudinal and psychological characteristics of both nurses and police emerged as the strongest predictors of victim blaming.