| Although much discussed, there has been only limited systematic empirical investigation of the circumstances under which women who have been sexually victimized report their victimization to others. Based on two recent national-level studies of college women that employ different measures of sexual victimization, we explore this issue for women who have been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted. We examine both the extent to which women report their victimization to law enforcement officials and the determinants of such reporting behavior. We also assess whether women report their sexual victimization to people other than law enforcement officials and the factors that shape the likelihood of this decision. The paper ends by exploring the policy implications of these findings. |
Updated 05/20/2006