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Access and Equity of Legal Support Services for Racialized Survivors of Sexual Violence
Abstract
Existing research reveals that survivors of sexual violence (SSV) face barriers in reporting sexual assault, such as fear of the criminal justice process. These barriers are more complex for racialized SSV, whose unique needs and experiences may differ from White SSV. In order to increase accessibility of legal support for SSV, a project offering free legal services in Canada was developed to support survivors by providing them with the legal information necessary to make informed decisions about reporting. One of the primary goals of the project was to tailor services to racialized SSV in order to ensure equitable access to justice for this population. This paper
presents the outcomes of these efforts from multiple stakeholders involved in the project’s implementation. Our findings reveal important considerations for what constitutes justice for racialized SSV, and the importance of centering them in the design and implementation of support services.
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In order to continue pushing college campuses to the forefront of survivor-centered practice and student-centered care, it is imperative that the barriers students experience in accessing campus sexual violence resource centers be documented and addressed. This research evaluates student and staff perceptions of barriers to accessing the Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) offices on three University of California (UC) campuses. Data were collected by researchers from UC Speaks Up, a cross-campus research initiative at UC Los Angeles (UCLA), UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and UC San Diego (UCSD) aimed at understanding factors that both contribute to and prevent sexual violence among college students. This analysis only included data that yielded insights into CARE’s accessibility. Thematic analysis of 63 interviews and 27 focus group discussions was conducted using Dedoose. The following six thematic codes emerged from the data: (1) awareness of office, (2) confidentiality of services, (3) physical accessibility, (4) accessibility for vulnerable and marginalized groups, (5) utilization experiences, and (6) limited institutional support. To increase the accessibility of sexual violence resource centers in higher education, this study indicates that universities and campus sexual violence resource centers should (1) encourage survivor-centered cross-campus collaborations between sexual violence resource centers and other campus entries, (2) add more trainings that are tailored to the needs of vulnerable and marginalized communities, (3) increase the resource’s campus-wide office exposure through multiple prevention education opportunities, and (4) better fund sexual violence resource centers. Implications for future research are discussed to maximize this study’s public health impact.
Purpose:
After a sexual assault (SA), victims often disclose their SA to an informal support provider (SP) to receive social support; however, many survivors do not disclose or wait months or years to tell anyone. While research exists on disclosure, social reactions of informal SPs to disclosure, and how those reactions affect the victim both positively and negatively, little research exists on reasons for and impact of adult SA survivors' nondisclosure to informal social network members.
Method:
This qualitative interview study examined 42 ethnically diverse women who had disclosed SA to an informal SP (e.g., friend, family, significant other). For this study, nondisclosure of SA mentioned by survivors was examined.
Results:
Various reasons for not telling people in their lives and/or delaying doing so were uncovered including fear of negative social reactions, lack of perceived available support and fear of burdening others, family and social norms expectations, and anticipated problematic gendered responses by both men (e.g., violence) and women (e.g., overwhelmed) SPs.
Conclusions:
Implications for future SA disclosure research and supporting survivors in their choice to selectively/not disclose are discussed.
Undergraduate women are at high risk of experiencing sexual assault during their college years. Research has established a strong link between sexual victimization and psychological distress. Although the relationship between sexual victimization and distress has been established, little is known about how the use of university-affiliated sexual assault resources influences mental health outcomes for survivors. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to describe the characteristics of women who used campus survivor resources following a sexual assault during college, examine correlates of campus resource use, and examine correlates and predictors of mental health of women who have been sexually assaulted during college. An online anonymous survey was sent to undergraduate women at two public universities in a mid-Atlantic state. Participants were female, undergraduate students (N = 362) who had been sexually assaulted during their time at college. Few women (n = 98, 27.1%) used campus resources following a sexual assault. We found significant relationships between participants’ use of campus survivor resources and experiencing a sexual assault prior to entering college, experiencing more severe sexual assaults, acknowledging the assault as a rape, feeling more self-blame, and experiencing more psychological distress. Campus resource use was significantly associated with poorer mental health outcomes. The cross-sectional nature of this study limited our ability to explore the reason for this. Further research is needed to explore the role campus resources play in supporting survivors during the recovery process. Given the high rate of sexual assaults on college campuses and the known negative psychological impact of sexual assault, it is imperative that campuses offer resources that are effective in meeting the needs of survivors.
Sexual violence is a devastating trauma with long-lasting effects on survivors’ health and well-being. Despite the substantial impacts of the last 25 years of research, the prevalence of sexual violence has remained stable. It will be necessary to reconceptualize our work, challenging our theories, methods, and strategies for dissemination and implementation moving forward. We outline an intersectional, community-engaged approach for sexual violence research to center the stories of survivors who face systemic oppression and inequity. Finally, we suggest applications of this approach for justice, healing, and prevention to inform our collective work to end sexual violence.
Racialized minority women’s experiences with Canadian
specialized criminal justice responses to domestic violence
have seldom been documented. Informed by an
intersectionality framework, this qualitative study presents
the struggles of 14 racial minority women from three Canadian
cities and their experiences with the police and criminal
court’s response to their partner’s acts of domestic violence.
The results focus on how well specialized criminal justice
responses address the needs of these women and protect them
from further violence. Factors that facilitate or deter these
women from approaching the criminal justice system for help
are highlighted. The implications of these women’s narratives
for criminal justice responses to domestic violence are
discussed.
Although prevention efforts aimed at eliminating the occurrence of sexual assault are clearly needed, it is also important to consider how we can prevent further trauma among those already victimized. Prior research suggests that rape survivors may experience victim-blaming treatment from system personnel (termed secondary victimization or the second rape). This research examined how postassault contact with community systems exacerbated rape victims' psychological and physical health distress. Findings revealed that the majority of rape survivors who reported their assault to the legal or medical system did not receive needed services. These difficulties with service delivery were associated with both perceived and objective measures of negative health outcomes. Contact with the mental health system, rape crisis centers, or religious communities was generally perceived by victims as beneficial. This study suggests that the trauma of rape extends far beyond the assault itself, as negative community responses can significantly elevate distress.
Studies indicate that a small percentage of rapes are reported to law enforcement officials. Research also suggests that rapes perpetrated by a stranger are more likely to be reported and that rapes involving drugs and/or alcohol are less likely to be reported. College women represent a unique and understudied population with regard to reporting rape.
In the current study, the authors interviewed a national sample of 2,000 college women about rape experiences in 2006.
Only 11.5% of college women in the sample reported their most recent/only rape experience to authorities, with only 2.7% of rapes involving drugs and/or alcohol reported. Minority status (ie, nonwhite race) was associated with lower likelihood of reporting, whereas sustaining injuries during the rape was associated with increased likelihood of reporting.
Reporting, particularly for rapes involving drugs and alcohol, is low among college women. Implications for policy are discussed.
National-, community-, and college-based studies have documented the high prevalence of sexual assault among African American women. Although African American women experience sexual assault at alarming rates, they are less likely to disclose or seek help in the aftermath of sexual assault. The purpose of this literature review is to provide a critique of the current literature examining the barriers to disclosure for African American women, such as intrapsychic factors, the damaging effect of an unsupportive response to initial disclosure, stigmatization of African American female sexuality, apprehension regarding racism, and racial loyalty. The authors provide a summary of the literature, gaps in current empirical studies, and needs for future study. Culturally relevant intervention recommendations are described. Finally, implications for sexual assault policy are provided.
In order to continue to facilitate the disclosure of sexual assault to professional support services, the current study examined the extent to which survivors report using campus services and whether friends who had disclosed to participants used the services. We also compared knowledge of a campus sexual assault center and likelihood of using the center among college men and women. Surveys were completed by 1,230 students, including victims of unwanted contact (n = 127), victims of unwanted intercourse (n = 26), and friends of victims (n = 253). Students who reported being victims of unwanted sexual experiences were reluctant to use services, expressing concerns that they would not be believed and that they would be blamed for what had happened to them. College men were significantly less likely to know where the sexual assault center was located, to report that they would use the center, and to report that unwanted sexual experiences were a problem on campus. Results indicate that much needs to be done to educate the campus community about the value of using professional support services after a sexual assault.
In this article the author reviews research evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders in lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) and shows, using meta-analyses, that LGBs have a higher prevalence of mental disorders than heterosexuals. The author offers a conceptual framework for understanding this excess in prevalence of disorder in terms of minority stress--explaining that stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment that causes mental health problems. The model describes stress processes, including the experience of prejudice events, expectations of rejection, hiding and concealing, internalized homophobia, and ameliorative coping processes. This conceptual framework is the basis for the review of research evidence, suggestions for future research directions, and exploration of public policy implications.
What counts as "violence" is socially constructed, has varied over time, and reflects power relationships. Informed by social constructionism, we illustrate these points using as examples sexual violence and domestic violence. We review changes in how society and social scientists have defined and understood these topics during the last 30 years. We then discuss 3 areas of continuing controversy: who should decide if sexual or domestic violence has occurred, what to count as sexual and domestic violence, and the role of gender in defining sexual and domestic violence.
The Canadian government has introduced numerous policies, guidelines, and mandates at the federal and provincial levels that recognize woman abuse as a serious social problem and violation of the law. Nonetheless, recent feminist research continues to expose laws and practices that fail woman abuse victims. The present study examined the experiences of women victims in domestic violence cases and the barriers they faced in dealing with the police, the courts, and social service agencies. Despite government initiatives, the study results corroborate previous findings indicating that many battered women feel further traumatized by ambivalent or discriminatory attitudes and practices prevalent within the system.
The Association of American Universities (AAU) Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct surveyed over 180,000 undergraduate and graduate students and found significant rates of sexual violence on college campuses across the United States with even greater rates experienced by students who identify as women, trans, nonbinary, and queer. However, what the survey findings do not include is an intersectional analysis of the unique realities of historically marginalized students that make them more susceptible to sexual violence and create barriers to reporting and seeking support after this violence. Despite these important quantitative data and growing research on the topic of sexual violence in higher education, there continues to be a dearth of research on the experiences of historically marginalized survivors of sexual violence, specifically Students of Color, LGBTQ+ students, and Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC). This article begins with a review of prior literature related to QTPOC survivors of sexual violence in college. After reflecting on previous methods utilized in the literature on this population, this article explores some critical theoretical frameworks and methods by which to conduct research with QTPOC survivors of sexual violence in college—in service of improving higher education research, services, resources, and policies to better reflect and support these students.
Although researchers have explored factors that reinforce the silencing of women who experience intimate partner violence, integrated understanding of how factors at each level of ecological subsystem interact to reinforce the silencing is missing. So, we used an ecological lens to synthesize the evidence base to examine the factors influencing the silencing of women who experience intimate partner violence. We used the integrative review method. We included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies published in the English language that focused on women above 16 years of age experiencing intimate partner violence and discussed reasons for their silencing on the issue. We extracted qualitative data on factors reinforcing the silencing and coded the data into the subsystems of the Bronfenbrenner's ecological model (macro-, meso-, exo-, and microsystem). Twenty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. Microsystem factors (self-blame, concern for family, concern for children) were the most common factors that reinforced the silencing of women irrespective of the country of origin. Macrosystem factors (societal expectations, normalization of violence, religious values, immigration policies) followed in the second position. Service provider's knowledge of these factors is crucial to facilitate women's disclosure respectfully and empathetically.
Although research has found that sexual violence is a serious issue on college campuses, the lack of diversity in previous samples calls into question the findings’ generalizability to non-White populations. Consequently, little is known about how Students of Color conceptualize sexual violence. Using an intersectional and phenomenological approach, we examined how Black/African American university women understand sexual violence, as well as their perceptions of cultural barriers to help-seeking and reporting this violence. Seven themes emerged: (a) Historical Legacy of Racialized Trauma Against Black Women, (b) Stereotypes of Hypersexualized Black Women, (c) Silence and Community Protection, (d) Duality of Black Spirituality and/or Religiosity, (e) Racial Injustice and Systemic Barriers to Help-Seeking and Reporting, (f) Stereotypes of Strong Black Women, and (g) Grassroots Healing and Empowerment of Black Communities. We provide recommendations for counselors and university staff to develop culturally grounded campus prevention initiatives for Black women.
Characteristics such as race, age, social economic status and sexual orientation, have an impact on women’s experiences of sexual violence and subsequent contact with services. In this qualitative study, we focused on the intersections of race and gender. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight key informants from statutory and third sector organisations to explore their responses to, and strategies for providing services for BME survivors of sexual violence. Results indicate the need to develop racial literacy and cultural sensitivity in individual practice as well as within the wider organisations. An intersectional approach is essential to adequately support survivors of sexual violence and address social inequalities.
Statistics suggest that survivors of sexual violence from black and minority ethnic (BME) and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* (LGBT) communities are less likely to access specialist support than other members of the general population. This article highlights the specific barriers that these communities face in accessing support services and how they could be addressed by these services, using data from a case study conducted in the city of Brighton and Hove, UK. It also takes the original step of comparing questionnaire and interview data from survivors with questionnaire and interview data from practitioners working with the BME and LGBT communities. Recommendations are identified for sexual violence services and social workers working with these survivors that are missing from the existing literature. These include a critique of the empowerment discourse commonly employed by support services, the use of intersectional feminist theory to inform practice and recommendations for ‘community-embedded’ support services.
A critical step in developing sexual assault prevention and treatment is identifying groups at high risk for sexual assault. We explored the independent and interaction effects of sexual identity, gender identity, and race/ethnicity on past-year sexual assault among college students. From 2011 to 2013, 71,421 undergraduate students from 120 US post-secondary education institutions completed cross-sectional surveys. We fit multilevel logistic regression models to examine differences in past-year sexual assault. Compared to cisgender (i.e., non-transgender) men, cisgender women (adjusted odds ratios [AOR] = 2.47; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.29, 2.68) and transgender people (AOR = 3.93; 95% CI 2.68, 5.76) had higher odds of sexual assault. Among cisgender people, gays/lesbians had higher odds of sexual assault than heterosexuals for men (AOR = 3.50; 95% CI 2.81, 4.35) but not for women (AOR = 1.13; 95% CI 0.87, 1.46). People unsure of their sexual identity had higher odds of sexual assault than heterosexuals, but effects were larger among cisgender men (AOR = 2.92; 95% CI 2.10, 4.08) than cisgender women (AOR = 1.68; 95% CI 1.40, 2.02). Bisexuals had higher odds of sexual assault than heterosexuals with similar magnitude among cisgender men (AOR = 3.19; 95% CI 2.37, 4.27) and women (AOR = 2.31; 95% CI 2.05, 2.60). Among transgender people, Blacks had higher odds of sexual assault than Whites (AOR = 8.26; 95% CI 1.09, 62.82). Predicted probabilities of sexual assault ranged from 2.6 (API cisgender men) to 57.7% (Black transgender people). Epidemiologic research and interventions should consider intersections of gender identity, sexual identity, and race/ethnicity to better tailor sexual assault prevention and treatment for college students.
The sexual victimization of sexual minorities enrolled in college is not a topic that has been well researched. The present study examines the awareness that college minority students have of services they can access in the event they experience sexual violence. The results indicate that many students are unaware of specific services that they can access if they are sexually victimized. Disclosing an incident of sexual violence, or being the recipient of a disclosure of sexual violence, is related to knowledge of aftercare services. Non-White students demonstrate less awareness of services than White students, indicating that these students may not receive aftercare in the event of sexual victimization because they do not have the knowledge of which services are available. Several policy recommendations and directions for future research stem from these findings.
Objective:
To document the sexual assault disclosure experiences of historically black college or university (HBCU) students.
Participants:
A total of 3,951 female, undergraduate students at 4 HBCUs.
Methods:
All women at the participating schools were recruited in November 2008 to participate in a Web-based survey including both closed- and open-ended questions. Survey data were weighted for nonresponse bias.
Results:
The majority of sexual assault survivors disclosed their experience to someone close to them, but disclosure to formal supports, particularly law enforcement agencies, was extremely rare. Nonreporters had concerns about the seriousness of the incident and their privacy. On the basis of qualitative data, strategies identified by students to increase reporting included more education and awareness about sexual assault, more survivor services and alternative mechanisms for reporting, and better strategies for protecting the confidentiality of survivors.
Conclusions:
Official sexual assault victimization data are of limited utility in conveying the extent of sexual assault among HBCU students, and efforts to increase reporting, such as peer education and enhanced confidentiality procedures, are needed.
One of the very few black women’s studies books is entitled All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us are Brave! (Hull et al. 1982). I have chosen this title as a point of departure in my efforts to develop a black feminist criticism2 because it sets forth a problematic consequence of the tendency to treat race and gender as mutually exclusive categories of experience and analysis.3 In this chapter, I want to examine how this tendency is perpetuated by a single-axis framework that is dominant in anti-discrimination law and that is also reflected in feminist theory and anti-racist politics.
This chapter discusses the application of the concept of the continuum of sexual violence to research on, and discussion of, the issue of sexual violence. Two of the original aims of the research were to explore the links between the different forms of sexual violence and to investigate the idea, which arose whilst working in a refuge for battered women, that most women have experience of sexual violence in their lifetime.1 Whilst analysing the in-depth interviews carried out with women, I begin to use the concept of a continuum of sexual violence to describe the findings in the two areas.
Intersectional insights and frameworks are put into practice in a multitude of highly contested, complex, and unpredictable ways. We group such engagements with intersectionality into three loosely defined sets of practices: applications of an intersectional framework or investigations of intersectional dynamics; debates about the scope and content of intersectionality as a theoretical and methodological paradigm; and political interventions employing an intersectional lens. We propose a template for fusing these three levels of engagement with intersectionality into a field of intersectional studies that emphasizes collaboration and literacy rather than unity. Our objective here is not to offer pat resolutions to all questions about intersectional approaches but to spark further inquiry into the dynamics of intersectionality both as an academic frame and as a practical intervention in a world characterized by extreme inequalities. At the same time, we wish to zero in on some issues that we believe have occupied a privileged place in the field from the very start, as well as on key questions that will define the field in the future. To that end, we foreground the social dynamics and relations that constitute subjects, displacing what often seems like an undue emphasis on the subjects (and categories) themselves as the starting point of inquiry. We also situate the development and contestation of these focal points of intersectional studies within the politics of academic and social movements—which, we argue, are themselves deeply intersectional in nature and therefore must continually be interrogated as part of the intersectional project.
The present paper advances theoretical propositions regarding the relationship between acculturation and identity. The most central thesis argued is that accultura-tion represents changes in cultural identity and that personal identity has the potential to 'anchor' immigrant people during their transition to a new society. The article em-phasizes the experiences of nonwhite, non-Western immigrant people moving to Western nations. The article also calls for research on heretofore unexplored aspects of the relationship of acculturation to personal and social identity. Ideas are proposed for interventions to promote cultural identity change and personal identity coher-ence. In recent decades, labor mobility and population migration have become prom-inent (and presumably permanent) in many parts of the world [van de Vijver & Pha-let, 2004]. This means that many people in the world, whether by choice, necessity, or coercion, are born in one country and move to another during their lifetime. Even when voluntary, immigration is often a diffi cult process for individuals and families. The decision to leave one's country of origin and move to another often brings
Victimization is a significant problem among college students, but it is less likely to be reported to the police than are victimizations in the general population.
In this study, the authors examined (1) whether reasons for not reporting varied by type of victimization (sexual or physical) and (2) victim-, offender-, and incident-related predictors of these reasons.
To address these objectives, the authors used data collected from 492 female college students.
The authors recruited women via flyers placed around campus that asked them to come to the student health center to complete anonymous surveys.
Findings from within-subject analyses indicated that women were more likely to cite the following reasons for not reporting a sexual rather than a physical victimization: the incident would be viewed as their fault, they were ashamed, they did not want anyone to know about the incident, or they did not want the police involved. Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that the predictors of not reporting also varied across crime types.
The authors discuss study implications for campus-based prevention strategies.
There is a growing body of research examining the disclosure of sexual assault. But the focus on time to first disclosure does not capture the whole picture. Survivors also differ in how long they continue to disclose, to whom they disclose, and the types of reactions received during disclosure. To provide a more comprehensive view of disclosure, this study sought to identify patterns of disclosure among a sample of 103 female sexual assault survivors recruited from the community. This study also sought to identify characteristics of each disclosure pattern, differences in how each disclosure pattern tends to unfold (e.g., who is told and how they react), and differences in how these disclosure patterns are related to physical and mental health outcomes. Results revealed four distinct disclosure patterns: nondisclosers, slow starters, crisis disclosers, and ongoing disclosers. Assault characteristics and rape acknowledgment distinguished nondisclosers and slow starters from the other two disclosure groups. Slow starters were also less likely to disclose to police and medical personnel and received negative reactions less frequently while nondisclosers experienced more symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress than other groups. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.
The trauma of sexual assault is heightened for many women by the interlocking experience of societal traumas such as racism, sexism, and poverty. The mental health effects of sexual assault are mediated by race and ethnicity. The investigators explore the experiences of African American, Asian American, Latina, and Native American female survivors of sexual assault. The sociohistorical context of intergenerational trauma in the lives of ethnic minorities is a part of the context for the contemporary experience of sexualized violence. Racial and ethnic dynamics related to sexual assault prevalence, mental health effects, and disclosure are examined. Literature related to cultural beliefs, community attitudes, and perceived social support in relation to sexualized violence are also reviewed. Finally, practice, research, and policy implications are discussed.
This paper is a description of inductive and deductive content analysis.
Content analysis is a method that may be used with either qualitative or quantitative data and in an inductive or deductive way. Qualitative content analysis is commonly used in nursing studies but little has been published on the analysis process and many research books generally only provide a short description of this method.
When using content analysis, the aim was to build a model to describe the phenomenon in a conceptual form. Both inductive and deductive analysis processes are represented as three main phases: preparation, organizing and reporting. The preparation phase is similar in both approaches. The concepts are derived from the data in inductive content analysis. Deductive content analysis is used when the structure of analysis is operationalized on the basis of previous knowledge.
Inductive content analysis is used in cases where there are no previous studies dealing with the phenomenon or when it is fragmented. A deductive approach is useful if the general aim was to test a previous theory in a different situation or to compare categories at different time periods.
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