Does Watching Law and Order Reduce Sexual Assault?

The Red Zone Campaign educates the college community about the frequency of sexual assault on campus during the first six weeks of fall term. Photo: University of Oregon.

A Washington State University study says viewers of the crime drama Law & Order are more likely to avoid sexual predator behavior in their own lives.

In a study of 313 college freshmen, Washington State University researchers found that viewers of Law & Order were more willing to ask for consent and to respect their partner’s decisions about consent. Meanwhile, viewers of CSI, another popular crime drama franchise, were actually less likely to do so.

The researchers think that the difference lies in Law & Order’s inclusion of the trial process in episodes. Since that show approaches crime more holistically, including both the investigation and prosecution of criminals, viewers not only see the act and the investigation of it, but also the prosecution and punishment of the criminal.

Furthermore, they also see the process of lawyers preparing for the trial, which when discussing a sex crime, inevitably includes discussions of consent.

CSI and NCIS, the other two most popular crime shows, focus entirely on the crime and the investigation, and in the case of at least CSI, significantly blur the issue of investigation for the sake of the narrative. Viewers of CSI and NCIS are less likely to ask for their partner’s consent.

Whether or not these narrative decisions give viewers the idea that consent doesn’t matter, or simply that they don’t serve as educational tools for consent, remains to be seen.

The researchers think that this study can contribute a lot to sexual assault prevention. The issue of consent, what it is and why it’s necessary, has proven to be thorny one across the country.

Even the act of explaining what consent is has been met with derision by conservatives and so called men’s rights activists, who like to play the victim and accuse educators of branding all men as rapists.

But consent is important, and is literally the line between sex and rape, and education people on the issue is of paramount importance. Knowing that Law & Order exists as a possible tool might be helpful.