Gemini Creason-Parker's poster titled Neutralizing Rape: Applying Sykes and Matza’s Techniques to Rape Myths on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was awarded the Second Place in the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) Student Poster Presentation Competition. Gemini will be recognized for this achievement at the ACJS Awards Luncheon on Friday, March 14, 2025, at 12:30 PM at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel during the 2025 ACJS Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado.
Sykes and Matza (1957) identified five techniques of neutralization: denial of injury, denial of responsibility, denial of victim, appeal to higher loyalties, and condemnation of the condemners—to rationalize criminal behavior. While widely applied in criminological research, this project explores their limited use in studying sexual assault. It argues that society, as reflected in the media, neutralizes rape by perpetuating rape myths, broadly rationalizing the crime. A research team, led by Gemini, analyzed the first 10 seasons of Law & Order: SVU (1999–Present), transcribing dialogue involving rape myths. Using NVivo, Gemini applied Sykes and Matza’s neutralization techniques. Four of the five techniques appeared, with denial of victim (e.g., victim-blaming, slut-shaming), denial of responsibility (e.g., minimizing offender accountability), and denial of injury (e.g., reframing incidents) being most common. Appeal to higher loyalties was the least common, and condemnation of condemners was absent. These findings support applying neutralization techniques to rape myths and highlight the need for further research into how on-screen myths influence off-screen perceptions (e.g., analyzing the remaining seasons).
Congratulations, Gemini, for this recognition of your work!