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Policing rape and serious sexual offences: officers’ insights on police specialism

Arianna Barbin (Institute for Social Justice and Crime, University of Suffolk, Ipswich, UK)
Anna Gekoski (Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK)
Kari Davies (Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK)
Miranda A.H. Horvath (Institute for Social Justice and Crime, University of Suffolk, Ipswich, UK)

Journal of Criminal Psychology

ISSN: 2009-3829

Article publication date: 17 September 2024

114

Abstract

Purpose

Several studies have been conducted to understand why the conviction rate for rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) remains so low. Increasing pressure and criticism have led to questioning why improvements in RASSO investigations are proving ineffective. The purpose of this study was to capture police officers’ perspective of police specialism while investigating RASSO.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 82 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collection spanned across two years, from October 2021 until May 2023, and included police officers from four police forces in England and Wales. Template analysis was used to identify recurrent patterns around police specialism for RASSO.

Findings

Most officers viewed specialism as a tool to improve how police forces prevent and tackle RASSO. In spite of this, the lack of prioritisation of specialist training, roles and units specifically for this crime type has hindered the development of evidence-based practice in policing. The impact on well-being, resources, organisational support and role identity has been explored.

Originality/value

This is the first qualitative study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to look at officers’ insights on police specialism for RASSO in England and Wales. Officers discussed day-to-day challenges associated with conducting RASSO investigations while reflecting on potential advantages related to dedicated specialist units and/or specialist roles.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Katherine Allen, Thistle Dalton, Joana Ferreira and Kristina Massey for year 1 data collection. They would also like to thank Katherine Allen, Sophie Barret, Thistle Dalton, Joana Ferreira, Margaret Hardiman, Anca Iliuta, Aneela Khan, Kristina Massey, Elena Reid and Hazel Sayer for Year 2 data collection.

Conflict of Interest and Funding: The authors declare no personal, commercial or financial conflicts. The researchers received no funding for the production and publication of this paper, as secondary data were used. The original data collection was funded by the Home Office as part of OSB.

Consent to Participate and Publish: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study as part of OSB. They also agreed that the anonymised and redacted version of their interviews could be used for publication purposes.

Citation

Barbin, A., Gekoski, A., Davies, K. and Horvath, M.A.H. (2024), "Policing rape and serious sexual offences: officers’ insights on police specialism", Journal of Criminal Psychology, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-07-2024-0063

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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