Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Allen Eury
Committee Member
Mary Clisbee
Committee Member
Ronald Kern
Keywords
adult victims, case classification, case disposition, central Florida, child sexual abuse, crime, criminal investigations, demographics, investigative processes, juvenile victims, law enforcement, police, race, rape, retrospective analysis, sexual battery, solved cases, state statutes, unfounded cases, unsolved cases, victim classification, victim demographics
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to identify the common and unique processes employed during investigations of sexual battery. While departmental policies and state statutes provide guidance on the processes to be used in sexual battery investigations, there is a great deal of variability in the combination of processes that can be employed to investigate these cases. There is also some degree of variability in the outcomes associated with these investigations. This study examined the processes employed during sexual battery investigations in an effort to identify common themes. Importantly, the study identified the variation in cases that are genuine versus unfounded, those that were solved versus unsolved, and those which were reclassified at the conclusion of the investigation.
A retrospective analysis of all sexual battery cases reported to a police department located in central Florida from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009 was conducted. The data retrieved from these cases for analyses included: (a) classification of the victim (i.e., juvenile or adult), (b) disposition of the case (i.e., genuine vs. unfounded and solved vs. unsolved), (c) classification of the case (i.e., whether the case was reclassified), and (d) presence or absence of the 17 investigative processes identified. Demographic information including age, gender, and race of the victim were also obtained. The data and information extracted from the reports provided the researcher with the processes employed during the investigation.