Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

"An Aura Of Disbelief:" Rape Mythology And Victim Blaming In The Legal Response To Disclosure Of Sexual Violence, Lauren Parcher

Social Justice and Community Engagement

This research study focuses on sexual violence (SV) in Canada, which one in three women will experience during their lives. Yet, even though the prevalence of violence against women in Canada is so significant, only one in ten survivors will report their experience of SV to the criminal justice system (CJS). Previous literature has identified the limited number of reports to authorities in Canada as being related to rape mythology. Due to the influence of rape mythology, a notion of a “good versus bad victim” is often used to deem which survivors are innocent and credible versus responsible or blamed …