5170University of Louisville, KY, USA.
Trauma Violence Abuse. 2022 Oct;23(4):1220-1234. doi: 10.1177/1524838021991285. Epub 2021 Feb 15.
Sexual assault and case attrition at the arrest stage are serious problems in the United States. Focal concerns have increasingly been used to explain police decision making in sexual assault cases. Because of the popularity of the focal concerns perspective and potential to inform evidence-based training, a systematic review and meta-analysis are needed to condense the literature. In this study, we assess the overall strength of the relationship between focal concerns variables and police decisions to arrest in cases of sexual assault. Our assessment of the effects of focal concerns variables on arrest decision making in sexual assault cases followed the systematic review protocols provided by the Campbell Collaboration of Systematic Reviews. Specifically, we used the Campbell Collaboration recommendations to search empirical literature and used meta-analysis to evaluate the size, direction, and strength of the impact of focal concerns variables on arrest decisions. Our search strategy detected 14 eligible studies and 79 effect sizes. The meta-analysis found several robust and statistically significant correlates of arrest. In fact, each focal concerns concept produced at least one robust arrest correlate. Overall, focal concerns offers a strong approach for explaining police decisions in sexual assault cases. Although practical concerns and resource constraints produced the strongest arrest correlates, results show the importance of additional case characteristics in officers' decision to arrest.
性侵犯和逮捕阶段的案件流失在美国是严重的问题。焦点关注越来越多地被用来解释性侵犯案件中的警察决策。由于焦点关注视角的普及性及其为循证培训提供信息的潜力，需要进行系统审查和荟萃分析来压缩文献。在这项研究中，我们评估了焦点关注变量与警察在性侵犯案件中决定逮捕之间的总体关系强度。我们对焦点关注变量对性侵犯案件中逮捕决策的影响的评估遵循了由循证系统评价协作组织（Campbell Collaboration）提供的系统审查方案。具体来说，我们使用循证系统评价协作组织的建议来搜索实证文献，并使用荟萃分析来评估焦点关注变量对逮捕决策的影响的大小、方向和强度。我们的搜索策略发现了 14 项符合条件的研究和 79 个效应量。荟萃分析发现了几个与逮捕相关的稳健且具有统计学意义的因素。事实上，每个焦点关注概念都产生了至少一个稳健的逮捕相关因素。总体而言，焦点关注为解释性侵犯案件中的警察决策提供了强有力的方法。尽管实际问题和资源限制产生了最强的逮捕相关因素，但结果表明在官员决定逮捕时，其他案件特征的重要性。
