성폭력 피해자에 대한 경찰의 인식이 가해자 처벌 판단에 미치는 영향

The Influence of Police Perception of Rape Victims on the Punishment Judgment of Offenders

The present study compared rape myth acceptance of police with that of college students and investigated if rape myth acceptance affects their perception of sexual offense, such as responsibility attribution and sentencing judgment. Police officers and college students read descriptions of two sexual offenses and rated the degree to which the victim is responsible for the offense, the victim suffers from the offense, and the perpetrator should be punished for the offense. As a result, the current study showed that police officers were more likely to agree with items on the rape myth acceptance scale than college students, but the difference disappeared when the impact of gender was controlled. Also, police officers were more likely than college students to believe that the victim is responsible for the offense, that the victim is not likely to suffer from the offense, and that the offender deserves less severe punishment. Furthermore, there was a positive relationship between rape myth acceptance and their judgment of victim's responsibility, and a negative relationship between rape myth acceptance and victim's pain, offender's punishment, and sentencing judgment. Finally, limitations of the present study and future research suggestions were discussed.