Prediction of Rapist Type and Violence from Verbal,Physical,and Sexual Scales

Abstract

Offender and victim accounts of rapes were rated on 33 verbal, physical, and sexual behavioral scales. Rapist type, according to a classification scheme derived from Groth by Hazelwood and Burgess, and whether the rapist had increased in violence over successive rapes were known for each rape. Two discriminant analyses were performed on the offender data and were replicated on the victim data. The first analysis produced a subset of scales classifying rapes according to the type of rape with an overall accuracy of 83% in the offender data and 89% in the victim data. The second analysis produced a subset of scales classifying rapists as to their increaser/nonincreaser status, with an overall accuracy of 92% in the offender data and 89% in the victim data. Practical applications of these classification schemes are discussed.

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