Abstract
Adolescents are at high risk for sexual assault, but few of these crimes are reported to the police and prosecuted by the
criminal justice system. To address this problem, communities throughout the United States have implemented multidisciplinary
interventions to improve post-assault care for victims and increase prosecution rates. The two most commonly implemented interventions
are Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs and Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs). The purpose of this study was
to determine whether community-level context (i.e., stakeholder engagement and collaboration) was predictive of adolescent
legal case outcomes, after accounting for “standard” factors that affect prosecution success (i.e., victim, assault, and evidence
characteristics). Overall, 40% of the adolescent cases from these two SANE–SART programs (over a 10-year period) were successfully
prosecuted. Cases were more likely to be prosecuted for younger victims, those with disabilities, those who knew their offenders,
and instances in which the rape evidence collection kit was submitted by police for analysis. After accounting for these influences,
multi-level modeling results revealed that in one site decreased allocation of community resources to adolescent sexual assault
cases had a significant negative effect on prosecution case outcomes. Results are explained in terms of Wolff’s (Am J Community
Psychol 29:173–191, 2001) concept of “over-coalitioned” communities and Kelly’s (1968) ecological principles.
criminal justice system. To address this problem, communities throughout the United States have implemented multidisciplinary
interventions to improve post-assault care for victims and increase prosecution rates. The two most commonly implemented interventions
are Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs and Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs). The purpose of this study was
to determine whether community-level context (i.e., stakeholder engagement and collaboration) was predictive of adolescent
legal case outcomes, after accounting for “standard” factors that affect prosecution success (i.e., victim, assault, and evidence
characteristics). Overall, 40% of the adolescent cases from these two SANE–SART programs (over a 10-year period) were successfully
prosecuted. Cases were more likely to be prosecuted for younger victims, those with disabilities, those who knew their offenders,
and instances in which the rape evidence collection kit was submitted by police for analysis. After accounting for these influences,
multi-level modeling results revealed that in one site decreased allocation of community resources to adolescent sexual assault
cases had a significant negative effect on prosecution case outcomes. Results are explained in terms of Wolff’s (Am J Community
Psychol 29:173–191, 2001) concept of “over-coalitioned” communities and Kelly’s (1968) ecological principles.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-14
- DOI 10.1007/s10464-011-9485-3
- Authors
- Rebecca Campbell, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 127 Psychology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1116, USA
- Megan R. Greeson, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 127 Psychology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1116, USA
- Deborah Bybee, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 127 Psychology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1116, USA
- Giannina Fehler-Cabral, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 127 Psychology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1116, USA
- Journal American Journal of Community Psychology
- Online ISSN 1573-2770
- Print ISSN 0091-0562