The Etiology and Primary Prevention of Rape

Dr. Raymond Knight is the Mortimer Gryzmish Professor of Human Relations at Brandeis University. He has over 125 publications on sexual aggression, psychopathy, and schizophrenia. He has developed and validated etiological and typological models for both rapists and child molesters.

Summary : Current programs targeting the prevention of rape have yielded suboptimal results. This talk introduces the concept of primary prevention and argues that current rape prevention programs have yielded disappointing results because they have targeted correlated, but not causative mechanisms. A well-validated, though still preliminary model of the etiology of rape is presented. The empirical validity of each component of the model is discussed, and the model is integrated with the concurrent correlates of rape that have been the focus of current prevention efforts. The implications of this etiological model for both treatment and primary prevention strategies are explored, and an example of how prevention strategies congruent with the model can be implemented is presented.

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