Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between modern racism and rape victim and perpetrator blame, and rape perception. Participants from both a community population (n = 211) and a student population (n = 200) read a rape vignette and provided their judgements of blame towards a victim and perpetrator, their perception of the event as rape, and later answered the modern racism scale. Results showed a significant positive relationship between modern racism and rape victim blame (r = .35, R(2) × 100 = 12.1%), while modern racism had a significant negative relationship with perpetrator blame (r = -.27, R(2) × 100 = 7.5%) and rape perception (r = -.29, R(2) × 100 = 8.7%). Implications for the criminal justice system as well as suggestions for future research were discussed.