Frustrated by a lack of rape prosecutions, West Valley police Detective Justin Boardman is developing a new way to investigate sexual assaults based on recent research surrounding the neurobiology of trauma.
Important to a successful investigation is understanding the impact of trauma on a rape victim, Boardman says, pointing to studies by a Michigan State University researcher. They explain why a victim’s story could be inconsistent and even incoherent — and why, after undergoing an invasive exam seeking forensic evidence, a victim would drop the case.
"A soup of hormones," including opiates, cortisol and oxytocin, released at the time of an attack can disrupt the victim’s consolidation of memory temporarily, according to psychology professor Rebecca Campbell’s examination of the neurobiology of rape trauma. Victims can provide "fragmented and sketchy" statements that investigators often discard as not credible.
Pressed for more details, the victim can experience a "secondary victimization," Campbell says in an interview. They feel "blamed, depressed and anxious." When the victim realizes police don’t believe her, she disengages from the investigation — case closed.
A victim should be afforded time — about two sleep cycles — before any in-depth questioning by detectives, according to Campbell. And investigators should show empathy and not question the victim as they would a criminal suspect with challenges, such as, "You are making this up."
Campbell’s research is "life changing," Boardman says.
"I was going, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve been doing this wrong all this time,’ " he says of the traditional approach to questioning a rape victim. "That was frustrating because we don’t go to work every day to do a bad job."
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/58142434-90/campbell-cases-lake-police.html.csp
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