Women who are sex workers are at high risk of being victims of sexual violence. Yet research suggests that their claims of victimization are not taken seriously enough and largely go unbelieved by the police. The current study goes beyond the issue of victim credibility to examine police officer blame attributions and judgments toward rape victims and offenders. Two-hundred and twenty police officers read a description of the rape of a young student who was either a sex worker or not. After reading the description, participants reported their perceptions of blame toward the victim and offender, as well as their perceptions of victim resistance, consequences of rape to the victim, and feelings toward the victim. Deserved punishment for the offender was also reported. The findings indicated that police officer attributions of victim-blaming were more prominent toward the sex working victim, and they assessed the consequences that she suffered as less severe. Male officers were more biased than female officers in blame attributions toward the offender, manifested in lower levels of blaming as well as in supporting more lenient sanctions, and specifically when the victim was a sex worker. Negative sentiment toward the victim was indicated, especially among male officers, which also adhered more than female officers to the idea that the victim could have resisted the attack. The findings are interpreted within the contexts of rape myths and stereotypes and unique characteristics of the police subculture. Possible implications for the investigation of rape victims and cases are discussed. The importance of the findings is highlighted by recent data indicating that sex working may be a relatively common phenomenon among young normative students.

作为性工作者的女性极有可能成为性暴力的受害者。然而研究表明，他们声称受害的说法没有得到足够的重视，而且在很大程度上没有被警方相信。目前的研究超越了受害者可信度的问题，研究了警察对强奸受害者和罪犯的责任归属和判断。220 名警察阅读了关于强奸一名年轻学生的描述，该学生要么是性工作者，要么不是性工作者。阅读描述后，参与者报告了他们对受害者和犯罪者的责备的看法，以及他们对受害者抵抗、强奸对受害者的后果以及对受害者的感受的看法。还报告了对犯罪者应得的惩罚。调查结果表明，警察对受害者指责的归因对性工作者受害者更为突出，他们评估她遭受的后果不太严重。男性官员在对犯罪者的责任归属方面比女性官员更偏颇，表现在较低程度的指责以及支持更宽松的制裁，特别是当受害者是性工作者时。表明对受害者的负面情绪，特别是在男性警官中，他们也比女性警官更坚持认为受害者本可以抵抗袭击的想法。调查结果在强奸神话和刻板印象以及警察亚文化的独特特征的背景下进行了解释。讨论了对强奸受害者和案件调查的可能影响。