"she Just Wanted to Get with an Athlete"•: the Effects of Race and Status on the Public's Perception of Guilt in Sexual Assault Cases

This thesis explored the effects of race and athlete status on the public's perceptions of guilt in sexual assault cases. It investigated how race and athlete status of a man accused of sexually assaulting a woman affected the perceived believability of the accuser and the perceived severity of the crime. It also explored the correlation between perceived guilt and rape myth acceptance. The results of this thesis did not directly support the hypotheses but hypothesis 4 was significant in suggesting that participants who gave any of the accused a lower guilt rating had higher levels of rape myth acceptance. The thesis also revealed trends in participant hesitance to rate any of the accused as guilty or not, with most benefit of the doubt going toward the accused and not the accuser. Reasons for the non-significant results such as media coverage and athletic department involvement were explored. iii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to all victims of sexual assault. My hope is that one day, the default " benefit of the doubt " won't be automatically given to the offender, but to the victim. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Donny, my parents, and Joe: I hope you all know how much you mean to me. I could never have gotten through graduate school or finished this thesis without the support from each of you. Donny: thank you for being my rock, keeping me grounded, and reminding me that my work is important. Without your love and reassurance I would have given up a long time ago. Mom and Dad: I could not have survived graduate school without your psychological (and monetary) support, thank you for knowing how important this Master's is to me! And thank you for being the best parents in the world, in general. Joe, thank you for talking me off a ledge in your office my first week of graduate school, thank you for helping me realize my love for research that I would not have known existed otherwise, and thank you for understanding my working style and adapting to it but also holding me to a higher standard. All: without the help from the four of you I would not be the person I am today.