When Victims Refuse and Prosecutors Decline: Examining Exceptional Clearance in Sexual Assault Cases
Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-13-2019
Publication Title
Crime & Delinquency
Volume
65
Issue
4
First Page
474
Last Page
498
Abstract
This study examines the predictors of sexual assault case clearance, with a focus on arrest and two types of exceptional clearance: victim refusal to cooperate and prosecutorial declination to prosecute. Using National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data on crime incidents that contain a sexual offense (N = 21,977), we estimated a multinomial regression model to examine the predictors of different clearance types for cases of sexual assault. Results indicated that the likelihood of victim refusal decreases in cases perpetrated by strangers, involving victim injury, occurring in public, and involving multiple offenses. A similar pattern of findings was observed for the decision to decline to prosecute a case. In addition, prosecutors are more likely to decline to prosecute cases with male victims and older victims. We discuss the implications of our findings and directions for future research.
Recommended Citation
Richards, T.N., Tillyer, M.S., & Wright, E.M. (2019). When victims refuse and prosecutors decline: Examining exceptional clearance in sexual assault cases. Crime & Delinquency, 65(4), 474-498. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128719828351
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Sage in [Crime & Delinquency} on [February 13, 2019], available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128719828351
Reuse restricted to noncommercial and no derivative uses.
Copyright held by authors.