To charge or not to charge? Police decisions in Canadian sexual assault cases and the relevance of rape myths

This study explored the relevance of rape myths in police officers' decisions to press charges in sexual assault cases, using a random selection of 300 sexual assault cases reported to and cleared by police. Using logistic regression, we examined the impact of variables associated with erroneous notions of 'real rape' and 'real rape victims' On police decisions to press charges. The results showed that several variables associated with stereotypic representations of rape predicted police processing of sexual assault cases, suggesting that rape myths may play a role in police charging practices.