Police investigators’ interpretations of consent and sexual violence in young people’s intimate relationships

Authors

• Anu Isotalo Tampereen yliopisto

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30668/janus.114709

Abstract

The article examines the ways in which police officers who worked in preliminary investigation of sexual and violent crimes described and defined consent in suspected rape cases in young people’s intimate relationships. The research material consists of ten semi-structured group interviews (n=21) which have been analysed by using discourse analysis. The perspectives of the interviewees based on their work experience focused on young women as victims and their boyfriends as suspects in situations where no physical violence was used. The police investigators described cases where lack of consent was grounded on direct pressure by the perpetrator, or when there was no direct pressure, but the involuntariness was not expressed by the victim at the time, or it was understood by her afterwards. In analysing constructions of gender and youth, as well as victim and suspect positions, three discourses were identified from the interviews. These discourses were labelled victim-sensitivity, making young women responsible, and defending young men.