Characteristics and Post-Decision Attitudes of Non-Reporting Sexual Violence Victims

• Published in: Journal of interpersonal violence 2019-05, Vol.34 (9), p.1961-1977
• Main Authors: Ceelen, Manon, Dorn, Tina, van Huis, Flora S., Reijnders, Udo J. L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Criminal statistics; Emotional abuse; Guilt; Internet; Police; Policy making; Predictions; Rape; Sex crimes; Sexual Abuse; Victims; Victims of crime; Violence
• ISSN: 0886-2605; 1552-6518
• DOI: 10.1177/0886260516658756

Although the physical and psychological consequences of sexual violence can be severe, many victims do not report the violence to the police force. The current study examined the characteristics and the post-decisional attitude of the non-reporting sexual violence victims. In total, 287 victims of sexual violence completed an anonymous online questionnaire that assessed characteristics of the violence, whether or not the crime was reported, reasons for not reporting, and aspects that would have convinced non-reporters to report in retrospect. Eighty percent of the victims did not report the most recent sexual violence incident to the police (n = 229). Nevertheless, 65% of the non-reporting victims (n = 148) in retrospect would have reported to the police (“potential reporters”). Specific reasons for non-reporting and incident characteristics appear to relate to the post-decision attitude of non-reporting victims of sexual violence. “Lack of evidence” and “feelings of shame, guilt, and other emotions” appear to be more frequently mentioned by potential reporters as reasons for their decision to not report as compared with the definitive non-reporters. Likewise, being raped or sexually assaulted is predictive of potential reporting. Our findings are useful for policy makers to develop strategies to increase reporting rates of sexual violence victims.