Stemming the flow: challenges for policing adult sexual assault with regard to attrition rates and under‐reporting of sexual offences

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Abstract
Sexual assault is recognised as among the most challenging problems facing criminal jurisdictions. Of concern is the deficiency in response to this crime by criminal justice institutions. Police responses to reported sexual assault are crucial to the overall criminal justice response. However, sexual offences are vastly under‐reported to police, with victims reporting lack of confidence in police and the criminal justice system. Concomitant to this is the high attrition rate of reported sexual offences from the criminal investigation process. The paper explores aspects of these problems, identifying a number of predictors. It argues, inter alia, that at least one avenue to constructive reforms lies in collaborative research involving police and academic researchers, as currently modelled in Australia by Victoria Police.

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