Implications

The proposed sequences to various offense outcomes can potentially be used to help reduce some of the worst sexual assault outcomes. While potential victims only have so many options during a sexual assault, the most influential choice a victim has during a crime is the degree to which he or she resists the attack. While it may be difficult for a victim to reduce their level of resistance, the current results suggest that sometimes this may be the best course of action for the victim in order to avoid the most dangerous and injurious outcomes. While more information has been uncovered within the present analyses, more direct tests of this specific relationship should be conducted before victim education programs can truly begin to make blanket statements to victims about when to resist and when to reduce the degree of resistance. The present analyses do support the notion that verbal resistance does not significantly increase a victim’s risk of physical retaliation by the offender, suggesting that, while physical resistance can be dangerous, a victim should always be sure to verbally resist and, at the very least, ensure the offender hears a firm, unambiguous “No” from the victim. While this does not appear to increase the level of danger to the victim, it may be enough to stop the assault or make the final outcome less harmful.

The most direct implications that arise from the current results are in relation to offender education, particularly the role of self-management in offender rehabilitation and sex crime prevention. Optimally, if offenders – or those at risk of becoming offenders –

may be possible to prevent some of these outcomes. As in the application of offense process and situational models to the development of relapse prevention models for sex offenders (Pithers, 1990; Pithers et al., 1988; Pithers et al., 1983), these crime sequences can be used to increase offender awareness as to the circumstances that may be more likely to lead to outcomes that would be worse for their victims and, thus, for the offender. Many offenders are remorseful after their crimes and do not wish to reoffend.5 _{Thus, while} some do end up sexually reoffending, if they were made aware of which sequences are likely to lead to the worst outcomes, they may be able to recognize which path they are following so as to stop the crime before the final, injurious or penetrative crime result.

Relatedly, those nonoffenders who may be considered at high risk (based on a nonsexual, particularly violent, criminal history or relevant demographic or family variables) could also be educated as to what the crime progression of the crimes with the worst outcomes most often look like. If presented collectively with information about the different sentences that accompany various levels of severity in sexual crimes, and the immediate and lasting effects on the victims, this could help to prevent these potential offenders from committing sexual assaults with the worst outcomes. As with the previous sex offenders, learning how to self-recognize and self-manage such behaviour could aid in the reduction of some of the worst sexual assaults.

5.3. Conclusion

While a great deal of current and previous research focuses on the overall prevention of sex crimes, both from a general standpoint (primary prevention) as well as preventing sex offender recidivism (tertiary prevention) (Brantingham & Faust, 1976), the prevention of specific outcomes once a crime has begun cannot be forgotten. The present analyses have concentrated on this aspect of secondary crime prevention by focusing on the factors that lead to some of the worst outcomes compared to those that lead to less serious outcomes in terms of victim injury and rape completion. Thus, although a crime

5 This statement is based on the author’s personal experience volunteering with released sex offenders in British Columbia, Canada.

has still occurred, the short and long term damage to the victim is measurably less than what it could have been.

In general, some of the most important determinants of final outcome appear to be the offender’s level of coercion in his approach, the length of the crime, specific victim characteristics, such as gender, age, and relationship to the offender, whether a weapon was utilized, the offender’s predominant affect prior to the assault, the use of pornography before the crime, and the degree of victim resistance. The sequences presented in Figure 4 represent the combination of factors most likely to lead to each outcome, although, in reality, crimes could incorporate only some of these and still lead to the predicted outcome. The purpose is to provide the most complete representation of the factors that have demonstrated a relationship to offense outcome.

In many ways, it appears to be the case that crimes that lead to victim injury (or injury in conjunction with rape completion) are almost opposite in nature to crimes that lead to rape completion alone. Comparing the sequences presented in Figure 4, many of the most influential variables present opposing effects on these crime outcomes. This is a very significant finding, as it taps into the fact that the very nature of these assaults are different and, based on the overall results, these differences are often apparent very early in the crime commission process. The behaviours and decision-making processes of offenders committing these differing crimes are inherently dissimilar from the outset through to the final stages of the crime. This difference is very likely tied to an overarching theme found throughout the results of all three studies: the effect of offender motivation and mindset. This plays out as an extremely important factor within the results, and appears to be tied to each of the final sequences presented. Therefore, the offender’s mindset may be more important than any other factor during a sex crime; however, offender mindset is inextricably linked to the surrounding situation, crime precursors, victim choice, the degree and type of planning, as well as how he reacts to victim behaviour. Thus, motivation or mindset appears to be the underlying causal mechanism that ties each of the relevant relationships together and leads to various differing crime outcomes.

outcomes (injury or penetration) rather than between crimes with the “best” or “worst” outcomes (neither versus both outcomes). Thus, while these analyses provide a great deal of new information with regard to patterns that lead to various sexual assault outcomes – and that these patterns appear to relate to the offender’s underlying motivation and mindset – there is not as much evidence differentiating the best from the worst possibilities, which was the original goal. Key findings did, however, shed light on some of the most pertinent factors related to the optimal outcome of a sexual assault (neither injury nor penetration). Future research in this area would be best served by further elucidation of this crucial sequence, perhaps through investigation into a greater number of sexual assault cases that resulted in less serious outcomes and, relatedly, less severe sanctions.

While sexual assaults may never be completely eradicated from society, the current study has provided information on how to better understand the factors that lead to the least desired outcomes. With this information, some of the most injurious and sexually intrusive sex crime outcomes may be able to be prevented. If research continues to be conducted on all aspects of sexual assault prevention – primary, secondary, and tertiary – society and the Criminal Justice System will have the best chances of reducing the worst, most serious crimes.