P. Pollard, RAPE REPORTING AS A FUNCTION OF VICTIM-OFFENDER RELATIONSHIP - A CRITIQUE OF THE LACK OF EFFECT REPORTED BY BACHMAN (1993), Criminal justice and behavior, 22(1), 1995, pp. 74-80
Bachman (1993), studying a National Crime Survey sample between 1987 a
nd 1990, concluded that rape survivors were not more likely to report
to the police if the victimization was perpetrated by a stranger, and
she suggested that because of recent legal reforms and media campaigns
''particularly victims of date and acquaintance rape...may be no long
er as hesitant to report a rape as they once were'' (p. 265). It is ar
gued here that the study provided no evidence for this contention, esp
ecially with respect to date rape, for the following reasons: (a) Ther
e is some question as to whether or not the analysis should have concl
uded that the relationship between reporting and knowing the offender
was significant; (b) even if considered nonsignificant, the interpreta
tion of the result was inappropriate in terms of both the classical lo
gic of hypothesis testing and more recent discussions of the use of si
gnificance tests; (c) there was no evidence of a change over time; and
(d) the composition of the sample was not sufficiently representative
of all types of victim-offender relationship for inferences, particul
arly about attacks on dates, to be drawn. Given the likely composition
of the sample, it would be expected to produce a weak effect of acqua
intance, which is exactly what it did.