title: Assessing Police Classifications of Sexual Assault Reports: A Meta-Analysis of False Reporting Rates.
abstract: The objective of the study was to determine, through meta-analysis, the rate of confirmed false reports of sexual assault to police. The meta-analysis initially involved a search for relevant articles. The search identified seven studies where researchers or their trained helpers evaluated reported sexual assault cases to determine the rate of confirmed false reports. The meta-analysis calculated an overall rate and tested for possible moderators of effect size. The meta-analytic rate of false reports of sexual assault was .052 (95 % CI .030, .089). The rates for the individual studies were heterogeneous, suggesting the possibility of moderators of rate. However, the four possible moderators examined-year of publication, whether the data set used had information in addition to police reports, whether the study was completed in the U.S. or elsewhere, and whether inter-rater reliabilities were reported-were all not significant. The meta-analysis of seven relevant studies shows that confirmed false allegations of sexual assault made to police occur at a significant rate. The total false reporting rate, including both confirmed and equivocal cases, would be greater than the 5 % rate found here.
authors.affiliation: School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia. claire.ferguson@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Claire E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Malouff
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016495:Police; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States
keywords: False allegations; Meta-analysis; Rape; Sexual assault