Examining Societal Perceptions of Victimisation in relation to Gender and Ethnicity

PhD (part time)

Start date: October 2021

Progress: Passed PP1 (PP2 Summer 2024)

Director of Studies: Dr Joseph Adonu

Second supervisor: Dr Andrew Clark

Third supervisor: Prof Andy Guppy

Summary:

This PhD aims to examine how gender and ethnicity may influence perceptions of victimisation for a range of crime types. In an attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding, the project will be split into three. Study 1 will examine whether there are any crime types which have a stereotypical victim by asking participants to rate the likelihood of victimisation for individuals for several crime types. The interaction of victim gender and ethnicity will be considered. There are several gaps in research which this study aims to fill, including a lack of crime types outside of gendered crimes, a lack of consideration for other UK ethnic groups, and a lack of research which explores the combined effect of gender and ethnicity.

Study 2 will delve deeper into victimisation perceptions by examining how attributions differ depending on the victim's characteristics. This will be done by providing participants with vignettes and various victim images. Participants will be required to make numerous attributions to each victim. Current research fails to examine attributions for a range of crime types, focusing on stereotypically gendered offences. Most attribution research examines the disparity between black and white victims. This study will be the first to examine how ethnicity can influence perceptions using UK ethnic groups. This study will also examine how the interaction of gender and ethnicity may influence perceptions, which is limited in attribution research to date.

Finally, study 3 will examine how victim characteristics influence sentencing. Again, participants will be provided with a range of crime types followed by victim images. Participants will be required to provide a custodial sentence to the (unidentified) perpetrator. Again, research focuses on the differences between black and white victims, with little consideration for other ethnic groups. Most sentencing research is conducted in the US, with a focal point on rape or capital punishment; this study aims to examine sentencing outcomes for a variety of crime types, using UK ethnic groups.

Contact: samantha.glass@study.beds.ac.uk