The literature review will explore the question of what factors contribute to the under reporting of sexual assault within the criminal justice system with references to male assaults, while the literature review focuses on males under reporting it will also draw on factors in general being that male or female victims reporting. Sexual assaults are crimes holding some of the harshest sentences but also have the lowest conviction rates, this can be due to a low reporting rate along with other factors. The themes discussed in this literature review are, firstly the definition itself of sexual assaults and rape, that being, rape and sexual assault are two terms to differentiate between two types of offences, rape is the actions of a person penetrating another with a penis, without the others consent, assault by penetration is when another person once again penetrates another with another body part or by using an object without the persons consent. Along with that the portrayal of males and male assaults in the media and lastly the equality within a country and whether that factors into whether a male will report an assault. Key to answering this question is understanding that by criminal justice system it is not the assaults inside the system itself so for example being assaulted while in prison. This literature review is focused upon the reporting of assaults to the police by the male gender. This literature review will conclude by stating the facts of the under reporting due to many factors such as hegemonic masculinity and patriarchal systems to name a few.
To start off the literature review the theme followed is that of the law itself behind sexual assaults and the criminal justice system, the way that the police deal with reporting’s. Males by definition cannot be raped by women as the definition states that if ‘he’ penetrates, therefore stating that the offender can only be male or a fully transitioned male, only with the offender having had a sex change surgery, rather than a female but the victim can be male or female. This could cause the male victim may be unwilling to disclose as they may feel as though they will not be taken seriously if they have been raped by a female, as that would only class as a sexual assault as they were not penetrated themselves. And therefore the assault can only be classed as a sexual assault which could be perceived as a lower crime meaning the man may not want to report and take up police time with they see as a lesser crime, meaning that the victim may feel they do not want to take up police time with their ‘lesser’ crime.
Due to the laws being written as they are it can mean that males feel discriminated against. Therefore meaning that the law itself around sexual assault and rape may be a factor to as why males do not report their assaults. Along with that they may also not report sue to the masculinity of the criminal justice system there by not wanting to seem weak therefore they may feel like to protect their masculinity they cannot report the assault or rape. The police force is stereotypically built up of male officers therefore it can mean that it is quite intimidating for a victim in a fragile state of mind to be around their peers, talking about their traumatic experiences, this can contribute to the under reporting of male assaults. This can be considered to be a mental barrier towards the victim actually reporting the assault to any proportion having be considered serious or not, for example inappropriate touching is considered to be a lesser crime compared to being sodomized. Or the feeling of shame and guilt possibly making the victim feel it was their fault. In a documentary the detective being interviewed stated that the police do not always the victim, but try to make the victim feel they do, this may come across to victims that they can tell they do not believe them and make them more closed off about the assault. This could be due to the amount of false accusations given to police, for example there was a case in 1991 where two men were falsely convicted of gang rape and were only exonerated after twenty six years of imprisonment, making it hard for any gender to report a rape, especially if the victim feels as though it was their fault but in the cases of sexual assault the victim is never the one to blame. If the victim believes they are to blame that will contribute to the under reporting of sexual assaults.
Men in the media play a part in the underreporting as they build up an image of the ideal man that males may believe they have to live up to. Society sees rape as being associated with women, as male sexual assaults are considered to be a taboo subject, due to not many men feeling they can speak out about such crimes against them. This can be caused by media presence, male rape is usually seen as punishment in prisons and then the victim is scared into silence by the guards, this may add to males fear in reporting the real life rapes, as similarly to women they may feel they are to blame for the attack, this can add to a males reservations of reporting an attack.
Men feel a need to control the situation and fear a damage in their masculinity, hegemonic masculinity draws on the notion of men being physically robust and in control so therefore after a rape they may feel they have lost there masculinity thus meaning if they do not report or talk about it they are able to keep their masculinity intact. This can be seen throughout media as male presence over, TV for example are very strong characters always protecting the woman, this is clearly seen throughout childhood TV shows as the majority of shows will have a damsel in distress needing a superhero or prince to save them reinforcing the idea, from a young age, of males need to be strong and masculine. Participants in a study conducted by Pitfield explain that they would never report to the police again, as the police experience they was given was one of disbelief and therefore they were treated in such a way of feeling belittled meaning they wouldn’t report again due to the ordeal they encounter when reporting. This can mean that through word of mouth that other males trying to support the victim will feel as though they are unable to report if they through the same kind of traumatic incident they may not want to continue the dramatisation of reliving of the event to someone who gives off an impression that they do not care.
Another theme to consider is the equality within the country as a whole. With the help of the gender equality index it is seen that the UK scores 15th with the highest scorer being Iceland. In 2015 the rate of rapes in Iceland was 54 per 10,000 people in the population whereas the UK reported 35,798 rapes in 2015. With these two statistics it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that due to having a higher equality between men and women that Iceland have less rapes due to a more balanced society where people feel as though they are listened to more, thereby inferring that men are more likely to report their assaults to the police as there is perceived to be less patriarchal control within the criminal justice system, and thus making it seem less daunting to report sexual assaults to the police.
Due to the sentences being harsh but having low conviction rates, equality may not play a part in the reporting as it may become a case of not wanting to go through the ordeal again infant of a judge and jury and simplistically be judged for an assault that was not the victims fault. The lowest sentence for rape being five years and the most severe being life imprisonment, but it is difficult for a rapist to be convicted due to lack of evidence as there is a very brief period of time to which evidence can be collected and able to be used, normally as a result of the victim being distressed it takes time for them to build up the courage to report the rape. Losing vital time in collecting evidence to support the victims case.
In conclusion, it is seen that the under reporting of rape is a bigger problem than many may originally think. This is due to many factors while a few are mentioned in this literature review, there is undoubtably many more as every person will have their own personal reasons as to why they choose not to report an assault. Limitations towards the research that can be conducted around this topic can be that a victim whom decides to not report are very unlikely to want to take part in a study, along with it being a very sensitive subject. With that the male under reporting is difficult to find research on as most studies are about female under reporting. When searching for cases of male sexual assaults the majority found are those of statutory rape, sexual intercourse by an adult with a person below a statutorily designated age. Therefore it could be suggested that there is room for further research into why sexual offenders do what they do and then study into whether they understand what effect their actions have on their victims or victim. To end this literature review considering the research explained it could be perceived that a main factor of the under reporting of rape is that of having a patriarchal criminal justice system as that affects both males and females decision to report.