Attribution of blame in rape cases: The impact of norm violation, gender, and sex-role attitude

Characteristics of rape victims are compared to those of observers in the attribution of blame. Both blame of the victim & of the rapist are considered, along with seriousness of the crime, perceived norm violation, respectability, behavioral intentions toward the victim, & behavioral intentions toward the rapist. A factorial design is applied to questionnaire data collected from 389 Coll students. Rape is found to be rated serious independently of any factors. Gender relates only to behavioral intentions, while sex-role attitude relates to respectability of the victim, blame of the victim, & blame of the rapist. No substantial statistical interaction effects are found. Findings suggest the need to consider observer characteristics in order to understand the attribution of blame & social perceptions in rape cases. 2 Tables. Modified AA.