Ráchael A Powers

• Professor (Associate) at University of South Florida

This study examines the extent if any by which the effect of low selfcontrol on crime is mediated by assessments of the costs and benefits of crime. It examines this idea with self-report survey data on intimate partner violence. The findings reveal that the effect of low self-control is partially mediated by the respondents’ cost considerations bu...

Access to social services like healthcare, education, housing, and welfare are integral to creating an equitable society. While many populations inherently benefit from these services, sex workers are often denied these rights and services because of the nature of their work. The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of deservingness of...

Racial disparities in perceptions of sexual assault incidents have largely focused on male-perpetrated violence against women. However, in some contexts such as college sports, sexual victimization of men may disproportionately impact racial minorities. Therefore, it is necessary to examine sexual assault in these contexts. Using a 2 × 2 factorial...

There is limited research on how sociocultural factors may relate to offending for adult Hispanic persons by gender. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. Hispanic men and women, we used sex-specific models to examine the relationships of sociocultural factors (i.e., discrimination, acculturation, and ethnic identity) with offending and...

Research on public perceptions of sex work in the United States (U.S.) has narrowly focused on street sex work, rather than including many other forms of sex work, such as sexual services provided online. With recent federal legislation aimed at addressing human trafficking (FOSTA-SESTA) facing criticism for harming sex workers, especially those wh...

Although racial and ethnic differences in offending are well-established, the processes associated with those relationships for U.S. Hispanic persons are less known. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. Hispanic adults, the current study contributes to the literature by focusing on three factors thought to be particularly salient for un...

The emergence of online social movements, such as #MeToo, has created a unique arena in which both hegemonic discourse and pro-social discourse exist simultaneously. Prior research has found that #MeToo has elicited engagement which negates traditional rape myths and has encouraged disclosure (Andalibi et al., 2016). This is particularly important...

Research on the media's portrayal of Asian American crime victims has largely entailed content analyses of specific high-profile cases, partly because Asian Americans have been largely ignored in the media. The current study examines national news coverage (2010–2021) of both specific anti-Asian hate crime incidents as well as articles that discuss...

Although the use of self-defense is common in incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV), correlates of self-protective behaviors in IPV are less known. Furthermore, while research has examined the unintended consequence of dual arrest as a result of using self-defense in IPV incidents, research has not examined whether self-defense is associated...

The increased connectivity on mobile platforms – including dating applications – is associated with increased risks of victimization both online and in-person. The current study explores the role of dating applications in shaping the risk(s) of victimization. Using a sample of college students (N = 324), we examine the relationship between low self...

Many crime victims do not report their victimization and rates of reporting are disparate across crime types. While research has established victims are least likely to report sexual assault, less known is whether the crime discounting process affects reporting rates and whether this process differs by crime type. This paper thus examines reporting...

Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) is a concerning, yet understudied form of intimate partner violence. Using data from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), the current study builds on prior research to explore variation in tactics used to facilitate IPSV and their relationship with physical and mental health outco...

As is the case in the civilian community, within the military, sexual assaults are grossly underreported. Complicating efforts to achieve recompense for military sexual assault victims are the stark differences between the operations of civilian justice system and the justice system under which the military operates—the Uniform Code of Military Jus...

The use of location-based real-time dating applications (LBRTDAs) has become commonplace among college-aged persons. With an increase in their use, these applications may serve as vectors for experiencing cybervictimization. Limited research has examined the implications that application usage has on individual experiences with cybervictimization,...

Much remains unknown about how disability intersects with victimization. Relying on data from the 2016- 2019 nationally representative self-reported National Crime Victimization Survey, we examine if type of disability is associated with different health outcomes when someone is violently victimized. Through logistic regressions, we examine if the...

Child sexual abuse is often perceived differently based on characteristics of the victim and the perpetrator. However, unknown is whether variations in perceptions occur when the relationship to and gender of the victim are manipulated—particularly when the offender is a woman. The current study sought to explore whether authority role (neighbor, t...

Women are playing an increasing role in violent crime, both as offenders and victims. Yet, little research has examined how neighborhood structural characteristics might explain this involvement, or who women victimize relative to men. Drawing upon theories of social disorganization, strain, and a subculture of violence, we examine macro-level vari...

The unique feature of social media as a platform for news is that the public can directly engage with content. In this way, the public shapes the narrative on current issues, including crime. Criminal justice agencies have leveraged this engagement to relay information about missing persons’ cases quickly and efficiently to a large audience. Wherea...

Public attention to sexual harassment has increased sharply with the rise of the #MeToo movement, although the phenomenon has sustained strong scientific and policy interest for almost 50 years. A large and impressive interdisciplinary scholarly literature has emerged over this period, yet the criminology of sexual harassment has been slow to devel...

While research has shown that sexual intercourse within a relationship is positively associated with physical intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, particularly among young adults, whether well-known correlates of IPV moderate this relationship and whether these effects are gendered is less known. We draw on data from the International Dati...

The current study aims to examine and compare predictors of attitudinal support for campus carry and concealed carrying behaviors on a campus where faculty, staff, and students can legally carry a weapon. This explores the relationship between attitudes and behaviors as it relates to concealed weapons on campuses. Whereas attitudinal correlates con...

The classic rape scenario creates an expectation that “real rape” only occurs in the context of certain situational characteristics. These stereotyped expectations are attributed to the low rates of sexual assault reporting especially when compared to other violent crimes like robbery. However, the literature on sexual assault reporting has been di...

One of the goals of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was to improve law enforcement responses to sexual and domestic violence by providing funding to expand prevention, enhance investigations, and increase victim services. Since VAWA’s enactment, police responses to these crimes have evolved, including officer responses to victims and offender...

Perceptions of child sexual abuse and statutory rape vary based on the gender of the victim, the perpetrator, and the combination of both. We extend existing research to examine attributions of responsibility and punitive preferences for student victims in student–teacher sexual relationships contingent on the gender dyad of the student and teacher...

Introduction This study examined the relationship between military sexual assault and structural factors including base (e.g., base density) and community (e.g., economic deprivation) characteristics. Methods Data on military sexual assault against men and women for fiscal years 2013–2016 were drawn from Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Offi...

The sexual double standard posits that men and women are perceived differently for their sexual experiences, including experiences of sexual violence and misconduct. This study explores these gendered perceptions for situations involving teacher-student sexual contact where the student is a minor. A quasi-experimental vignette design (n = 648 respo...

The majority of research on victim decision making has focused narrowly on reporting to police neglecting other ways in which victims seek help after a victimization experience. Similarly, this research also focuses on only one crime at a time, typically sexual assault, or focuses broadly on categories of violent crime. This dissertation aims to ex...

The guardianship component of routine activity theory (RAT) remains underexamined. Recent research has emphasized “guardianship-in-action,” or the processes by which individuals evaluate potentially problematic situations. Research has also begun to identify conditions conducive to bystander intervention in troublesome situations, but has not been...

Multiple theoretical perspectives suggest that the racial minorities may be less likely to report victimisation to law enforcement. Likewise, the literature on racially-motivated offenses highlights the importance of the victim’s race in whether the crime is reported. While both bodies of literature suggest that perception of racial bias may be a p...

Although most crime in intraracial, studies suggest that interracial victimization is more injurious. This may be especially true for racially motivated offenses; however, studies of hate crime have not disaggregated which racial dyads are associated with injury, and whether they are more injurious than interracial victimizations generally. Likewis...

Much of the literature on rape, victim blaming, and rape myth acceptance is focused on the United States, and there is a general dearth of such scholarly activity in other countries. This article offers insights on university students’ perspectives in two new country contexts—India and the United Kingdom. A total of 693 students contributed to the...

Studies that have examined absconding have pointed to the relevance of factors related to demographics, situational, and social characteristics, as well as criminal history variables as predictive of offenders’ decision to abscond. This study contributes to this literature by extending factors that have been explored for criminal justice outcomes s...

Objectives We draw upon theories of social disorganization, strain, and subculture of violence to examine how sex and race/ethnicity intersect to inform nonlethal violent offending at the macrolevel. Methods Using neighborhood-level incidents, we examine (1) the structural correlates of male and female nonlethal violence and (2) whether ecological...

According to Tittle, the effect of self-control on one’s criminal offending is a product of both an individual’s capacity to exercise self-control as well as their desire to do so. The present study utilized self-report data gathered at a large urban university in Florida (n = 1,307) to test both the independent and interactive effects of self-cont...

Bystander intervention programs are proliferating on college campuses and are slowly gaining momentum as sexual violence prevention programs suitable for the larger community. In particular, bystander intervention programs aimed at bar staff have been developed in a number of locations. This study entails the exploratory evaluation of a community-b...

Although researchers have made numerous advances in the understanding of the nature, extent, and dynamics of violence against women (VAW), there is an ever-increasing need for data used in academic research and within policy decision-making to be collected via rigorous methodological designs to accurately measure the incidence and impact of VAW. Wh...

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was the nation's first self-reported crime victimization survey and remains the largest in the United States. Through a rotating panel design, estimates of violent and property crimes, such as robbery, aggravated assault, sexual assault, simple assault, burglary, theft, and auto theft, are obtained. Th...

In this study, we examine comparative rates of recidivism for Colorado inmates released from a private reentry center and public facilities. Using a sample of 6,102 inmates released from 2008 to 2012, we measure overall recidivism and recidivism for a new crime. Applying a quasi-experimental methodology, we find that overall rates of recidivism are...

This study examined the gendered impact of structural disadvantage and economic inequality on two forms of nonlethal victimization (assault and robbery). Compared with research on the gendered impact of structural disadvantage on perpetration, few studies have examined the differential susceptibility of men and women’s risk of victimization. We use...

The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of Akers’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) to explain intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. In doing so, we draw on the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence Theory (IGT) to extend the scope of SLT to the explanation of victimization and for a consideration of uniquely gendered pa...

System trespassing, which refers to the unauthorized access of computer systems, has rapidly become a worldwide phenomenon. Despite growing concern, criminological literature has paid system trespassing little attention. The current study utilizes data gathered from a Chinese computer network to examine system trespasser behavior after exposure to...

Media coverage varies as a function of demographic and situational characteristics such that more “newsworthy” cases feature greater exposure. This study examines case characteristics associated with various levels of media attention for missing persons cases, as well as the framing of news reports. Including missing persons cases that received med...

LGBT hate crimes are typically more violent and involve greater victim injury as compared to other victimizations, but they are substantially underreported. Victim reluctance to contact law enforcement may arise from perceptions of police bias. This study explores victim–police interactions, specifically reporting to the police, perceived police bi...

Using victimization data, this study provides national estimates of childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and other risky parental behaviors. According to respondent reports, 13% of these families are characterized by emotional abuse and 5% by physical violence. This equates to over 765,000 Canadian children potentially exposed to d...

Relative to non-bias motivated crimes, hate crimes have much graver consequences for victims and their community. Despite the large increase in religious hate crimes over the past decade relative to all other hate crime, little is known about these types of crimes and the factors associated with both reporting to law enforcement and case outcomes....

This study is an exploratory analysis of how bar staff perceive their role in preventing sexual harassment and assault. In particular, through qualitative focus group interviews, this study explores bar staff's attitudes surrounding sexual harassment/assault, how they currently handle these situations, and their opinions regarding programs and poli...

Dating violence is a serious and prevalent public health problem that is associated with numerous negative physical and psychological health outcomes, and yet there has been limited evaluation of prevention programs on college campuses. A recent innovation in campus prevention focuses on mobilizing bystanders to take action. To date, bystander prog...

This study is an exploratory analysis of how bar staff perceive their role in preventing sexual harassment and assault. In particular, through qualitative focus group interviews, this study explores bar staff's attitudes surrounding sexual harassment/assault, how they currently handle these situations, and their opinions regarding programs and poli...

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of education on rape myth acceptance, alcohol expectancies, and bystander attitudes. A sample of 126 community members and college students who had consumed alcohol within the past 90 days were administered surveys. College experience was unrelated to rape myth acceptance, alcohol expectancies, an...

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is the largest continuing self-reported victimization survey in the United States. It provides national estimates concerning both property and violent crime, including sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, theft, burglary, and automobile theft. These estimates are consistently hi...

Intimacy between two disputants provides insulation against the occurrence of violence. However, once violence becomes a viable option for conflict resolution, intimacy may exacerbate incident outcomes. Furthermore, because of the emotional intensity, relationally close assailants may be less attuned to the situational characteristics, a known pred...

This study examines the consequences of using self-protective behaviors in nonsexual assaults. Particular attention is paid to how victim sex modifies conclusions regarding the effectiveness of countermeasures as completion or injury avoidance strategies. These relationships are tested using 16,309 incidents of nonsexual assaults from the National...

Intimate partner violence disproportionately occurs among young adults and relates to a range of health and behavioral problems throughout the life course. Although numerous studies substantiate the prevailing cycle of violence perspective, methodological limitations in prior research prohibit the conclusion of a causal relationship between childho...

Child maltreatment is one of the most commonly examined risk factors for violence in dating relationships. Often referred to as the intergenerational transmission of violence or cycle of violence, a fair amount of research suggests that experiencing abuse during childhood significantly increases the likelihood of involvement in violent relationship...

Prior research has shown that employed parolees are less likely to recidivate. Yet, these studies often ignore the underlying employment context of the neighborhoods to which parolees return. Given that parolees often reside in disadvantaged neighborhoods, it is likely that few potential employment opportunities exist nearby, and those opportunitie...

This study investigates the situational characteristics that determine the presence and severity of injury in incidents of assaultive violence. The analysis uses merged data from the National Crime Victimization Survey and the Supplementary Homicide Reports for the years 1992-2008, in order to model the determinants of victim injury. The analysis i...

There has been a considerable amount of published research investigating the link between experiencing child abuse and later offending and victimization. Most of the evidence gleaned from these studies demonstrates support for a cycle of violence. However, prior research has overwhelmingly been based on correlational observations. Considering this...

National data from Canada and the United States are used to examine the connection between women’s economic contributions to the family and their risk for physical and emotional abuse. Analyses show that American women are at a twofold greater risk, however, the relationship between economic variables and the risk of both physical violence and coer...

Research examining the impact of self-protective behaviors on outcomes in nonsexual assaults involving intimates has focused solely on one mainstream sample (National Crime Victimization Survey) in which violence is a relatively rare event. Using the Women’s Experience of Violence (WEV) project which collects data from a sample of incarcerated wome...

Research on trends in partner violence has primarily relied on official measures of victimization focusing primarily on women’s risk for intimate partner homicide. The current study uses 28 years of data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to examine the trends of intimate partner violence against female victims and identify variati...

Three studies examined procedures for reducing the post-identification feedback effect. After viewing a video event, participants were then asked to identify a suspect from a target-absent photo lineup. After making their identification, some participants were given information suggesting that their identification was correct, while others were giv...

Two studies examined the effects of post-identification feedback, age, and retention interval on participants' memories and beliefs about memories for a videotaped event, as captured by a store surveillance camera. After viewing the video, they were then asked to identify the suspect from a target-absent photo line-up. After making their identifica...