Police students’ assessment of a rape complainant’s statement: the role of sexual aggression myths, expert knowledge and complainant’s emotional expression

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how German police students evaluate a female rape complainant’s testimony, focusing on the interplay of students’ acceptance of modern myths about sexual aggression (AMMSA), their factual knowledge about sexual violence and the complainant’s emotional expression. Design/methodology/approach In a cross-sectional sample of 347 students from three study years, participants viewed a standardized interview video showing a rape complainant displaying a sad, neutral or angry emotional expression. Measures included the AMMSA three-dimensional (3D) scale consisting of the subscales women lie, blaming the woman and minimization, a knowledge test on sexual violence and evaluations of the complainant’s testimony such as ratings of complainant credibility, perpetrator blame and perceived offense severity. Findings The results of this study indicated that AMMSA scores were lower and knowledge scores were higher with more years of study. Perceived credibility was highest for the sad and lowest for the angry emotional expression. AMMSA-3D – but not knowledge – negatively predicted credibility. The AMMSA-3D subscales showed modest discriminant validity in predicting police students’ evaluations of the complainant’s testimony. Originality/value The findings of this study suggest that training is associated with lower AMMSA and greater knowledge regarding sexual violence. Nonetheless, police students remain influenced by emotional stereotypes and myth-based biases, which highlights the need for interventions combining factual knowledge with bias-reduction strategies to support victim-centered policing.