Noted researcher David Lisak identified the dangers surrounding society's use of the "date rapist" label in a Thursday evening lecture at Collis Common Ground.
"The problem with the term 'date rapist' is that 'date' serves as a qualifier for the act; it helps to show that there is something different from their act and real rape," Lisak said.
Lisak also said the term "date rapist" has made it particularly difficult for courts to convict accused offenders because the date rapist image is largely non-threatening.
To many, the date rapist is the "nice guy" who drank too much, whose unpremeditated action was a result of miscommunication and someone who wouldn't rape again.
Lisak said, however, this image is utterly wrong.
Although the date rapist slips beneath the radar because he is not a stranger who carries a knife, wears a ski mask or jumps out of an alleyway, "rapists are rapists," Lisak said.
Moreover, Lisak presented empirical evidence which argued that any rapist would most likely be a repeat offender, and that date rapists are particularly driven to premeditate their crimes because they choose to act without using weapons.
At present, the overwhelming majority of rapes go unreported. Among those reported, there are tremendous attrition rates from number of rapes report to arrests made and from the number of rape arrests made to actual convictions, according to Lisak.
Throughout his lecture, he said society must first adjust and dispel its false presumptions about rape and rapists in order to remedy these problems of attrition.
"A lot of people think that people rape because they are sexually deprived," Lisak said. "On average, rapists have more consensual sex than non-rapists."
Most people also consider infliction of physical injuries to be a requisite for rape reports and convictions. However, the majority of rapists do not use weapons and use instrumental, not gratuitous, violence, according to Lisak.
"They are not so out of control of their impulses that they recklessly inflict injury," he said.
Lisak also argued that society has incorrectly measured the role of alcohol in rapes.
Alcohol is not backdrop against which people err into becoming date or acquaintance rapists, he said. Rather, it is an item that date rapists deliberately use as a way to "cultivate their prey," Lisak said.
Lisak stressed the importance of rape prevention and society's responsibility to break up rape cultures.
If done correctly, Lisak said, it would become apparent that despite discouragingly high sexual assault and rape statistics today, rapists are in a clear minority.
"The vast majority of all criminal activities anywhere is committed by a small group of serial perpetrators," Lisak said.
Lisak is founding editor of the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity. He serves as faculty for the National Judicial Education Program and the American Prosecutors Research Institute, is an expert witness and consultant in sexual violence and homicide cases across the country and is a consultant to judicial, prosecutor and law enforcement education programs.
His speech, titled "The Undetected Rapist: What it Means for the Good Guys," was part of an ongoing series of campus events in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Week.
