This presentation will report the findings of a study on offender behaviour in acquaintance rape. Previous work has treated acquaintance rape as homogeneous, however, clearly the range of different forms of acquaintance is very broad. The research examines offender behavior in 98 cases of male-female acquaintance rape reported to the police in the U.K.

Each rape is defined according to the predominant style of offender behavior: Intimacy, Aggression or Criminality. Variations in the style of rape behavior are examined as a function of the prior victim-offender relationship. The level of relationship intimacy between the victim and offender is defined empirically according to four variables: length of time acquainted, degree of familiarity, previous sexual relationship and previous cohabitation. The results indicate that 'Criminality' style behavior is very infrequent in acquaintance rape, as compared to stranger rape. At low levels of relationship intimacy, for example, where the victim and offender have only just met, the rape is more likely to be characterized by 'Intimacy' style behaviors. Where the victim and offender have high relationship intimacy, for example, being ex-partners, the rape is more likely to be characterized by 'Aggression' style behaviour. The implications are discussed.

Dr Margaret Wilson is an applied psychologist at the University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K., where she teaches forensic psychology at masters level and supervises doctoral research. She has an international reputation for her research on offender behaviour, with particular expertise in the study of rape and terrorist hostage taking.  She has lectured extensively on her work world wide, addressing both academic audiences and defence and law enforcement agencies.  She has given invited lectures at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, D.C.), The Naval Health Research Center (San Diego), and The Council for Foreign Relations (New York). She has also been invited to give the keynote address at the International Applied Military Psychology Symposium, and to present her work to the U.S. Congress. Her recent research is due to be published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology later this year.

Chair: His Honour Justice Thomas Gall

Date: Tuesday June 20, 2000
Time: 5:30-7:00 PM
Venue: Senior Common Room, 14th Floor,  K. K. Leung Building, The University of Hong Kong