Drug-Assisted Rape: An Investigation.

This thesis explores drug-assisted rape, noted in previous research but not subject to a great deal of previous academic scrutiny. This research aims to establish a clear working definition of the offence, develop a detailed and comprehensive descriptive account of drug-assisted rape and finally to propose some theoretical constructs, for example script theory and negotiative space, which may be useful for understanding the offence. Key findings from the study are that alcohol should be included in the definition of drugs; that offenders are either opportunist or predatory; that whilst the antecedents and the outcomes are different, the precursors and sexual behaviours in drug-assisted rape are indistinguishable from normative sexual negotiations. Two pilot studies (N of 8, 8 respectively) using a geographically localised sample of participants examined lay theories of drug-assisted rape using a multiple sorting task. These found that three key factors emerged as critical for distinguishing all types of sexual behaviours, legality, social approval and consent. The main study was conducted by means of secondary case file analysis made available from two Police Forces (N of 184, 292 respectively). A sequence of studies distinguished rapes which involve alcohol and drugs from those which do not. The analyses focus on key constructs of the offence: victim and offender characteristics, victim and offender relationship, offence location, and offence behaviours. The thesis proposes two working definitions of the offence (drug-assisted rape and drug-facilitated rape), maps out a detailed description of the offence and develops the notion of negotiative space (Jeffner, 2000) as forming an emergent conceptual framework to explain drug-assisted rape. The implications of the findings of this research are discussed in terms of police investigations, crime prevention and directions for future research