Chapter 10 Sources

One of the pieces of research that Krakauer uses heavily in the first part of chapter 10 is the study by Lisak and Miller titled “Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists.” The study uses a survey approach to look at if rapists not in jail were repeat offenders like the ones incarcerated. In their words, “The goal of the present study was to determine the proportion of self-reported rapists who commit multiple acts of rape undetected by the criminal justice system and to examine whether some proportion of rapists also admit to other forms of interpersonal violence” (75). The study did indeed show that most of the acts in their survey that counted as rapes were committed by a small number of men. Basically, the men that raped once, usually raped again. Despite the fact that the study was conducted at a university, the authors wrote that the recidivism of the participants was in contrast to the “prevalent image of a male college student who, under the influence of alcohol, mistakenly crosses the line between sexual pressure and rape” (81).

Krakauer uses this study to underscore the UM victims’ concerns of their attackers committing the same crime later. For those who were attacked and decided to report it, this reasoning was part of their final decision to report it. By presenting this scientific study that looked at actual college students, Krakauer strengthens his and the women’s arguments.

The other research that Krakauer presents in the first few pages of chapter 10 is the 2009 study that supports the 2002 study by Lisak and Miller. This study is titled “Reports of Rape Reperpetration by Newly Enlisted Male Navy Personnel.” The study corroborates the findings of the previous one. It concludes that “Regardless of time period, participants reported primarily perpetrating completed rape rather than attempted rape, perpetrating multiple ACR [attempted or completed rape] incidents rather than single ACR incidents, using substances more frequently than force, and knowing their victim rather than targeting a stranger” (213). In a single sentence, the study sums up everything that Krakauer has been asserting. The fact that the study found the same occurrences as the previous one is a support to the arguments being made because it is more recent and the more data is collected, the more reliable the findings are. He uses this study like the earlier one: to support what the victims have reported.

The journal that both of these studies were published in is Violence and Victims and is interdisciplinary. It covers "interpersonal violence and victimization" among the different disciplines.

Lisak, David, and Paul M. Miller. “Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected Rapists.” Violence and Victims, 17, no. 1, 2002.

McWhorter, Stephanie K., Valerie A. Stander, Lex L. Merrill, Cynthia J. Thomsen, and Joel S. Milner. “Reports of Rape Reperpetration by Newly Enlisted Male Navy Personnel.” Violence and Victims, 24, no. 2, 2009.