TY - JOUR PY - 2012// TI - Expressed Sexual Assault Legal Context and Victim Culpability Attributions JO - Journal of interpersonal violence A1 - Miller, Audrey K. A1 - Markman, Keith D. A1 - Amacker, Amanda M. A1 - Menaker, Tasha A. SP - 1023 EP - 1039 VL - 27 IS - 6 N2 - Legal scholars have argued that laws have an expressive function, specifically that sexual assault laws may convey social-level messages that victims are culpable for crimes against them. In a university sample, we conducted the first experimental test of legal scholars' proposal, hypothesizing that legal messages-specifically their clarity and effectiveness in conveying that sexual assault is a crime-affect victim culpability attributions. Results demonstrated that greater culpability was attributed to a victim of sexual assault within a context expressing unclear and ineffective sexual assault law than within a context clearly and effectively expressing that sexual assault is a crime. We also garnered empirical support for a mediation model, that is, negative affective reactions to a victim statistically accounted for the relationship between expressed legal context and victim culpability attributions. Implications for future psycholegal research and potential legal reforms are discussed.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0886-2605 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0886260511424493 ID - ref1 ER -