Victims of Sexual Assault and Decision to Report to Law Enforcement Agencies Erica Pieper Texas Christian University Department of Social Work Background 1 of 6 women, 1 of 33 men in America will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime 44% of victims are under age 18 About 80% of victims of sexual assault know their perpetrator 68% of sexual assaults are never reported to law enforcement 7% of reported sexual assaults lead to an arrest Purpose Examine reasons victims of sexual assault choose to report their incident to law enforcement agencies Address barriers surrounding the reporting of sexual assault Assess reasons to better serve victims, specifically those on college campuses Methods Systematic review of literature regarding victims of sexual assault and their decision to report to law enforcement Evaluated information found in five peer reviewed research journal articles Purposefully chose articles with differing locations, sample sizes, research designs, and types of sample Ensured results were gathered in the last ten years to ensure relevancy Observed data analysis in each study in order to best understand impacting factors regarding decisions to report sexual assault All articles utilized demographic questionnaires as well as numerous different scales regarding PTSD symptoms Retrieved all articles from EBSCO Host Findings Findings   Relationship to Offender Event Seen as Trivial Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Alcohol or Drug Involvement Physical Trauma Walsh, R. et al. (2014). X McFarlance, M. et al. (2006). Felson, R. et al. (2007). Kapur, N. et. al. (2011). Nesvold, H. et al. (2011). Sample Male and female sample was reflective of the ratio of males and females who experience sexual assault in a given year Participant age range in all studies were reflective of all ages, yet sampled the most affected age group (18-24 years of age) Sample did not include child sexual abuse, as this is considered for a different type of reporting Not all study samples accounted for educational level, income, or other abuse Study samples did not account for the most often victimized racial groups Findings Decisions to report crimes to police are made based on a variety of factors Higher levels of PTSD re-experiencing and hyper-arousal symptoms increased the likelihood of police notification Women who experienced more than one sexual assault were more than 3 times likely to report beginning or increasing substance use compared to women who reported only one sexual assault Majority of victims who reported to the police did so within the first day of the assault (64%) Relationship between victim and offender is the largest impacting factor in reporting Discussion Victim and offender relationship strongly affects reporting Non-reporting individuals suffer from PTSD, depression, and other negative symptoms as compared to those who report Emphasis must be placed on healthy, respectful relationships References Felson, R. B., & Paré, P. (2005). The Reporting of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault by Nonstrangers to the Police.Journal Of Marriage & Family, 67(3), 597-610. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2005.00156.x Kapur, N. A., & Windish, D. M. (2011). Health care utilization and unhealthy behaviors among victims of sexual assault in Connecticut: Results from a population-based sample. Journal Of General Internal Medicine, 26(5), 524-530. doi:10.1007/s11606-010- 1614-4 McFarlane, J., Malecha, A., Gist, J., Watson, K., Batten, E., Hall, I., & Smith, S. (2005). Intimate partner sexual assault against women and associated victim substance use, suicidality, and risk factors for femicide. Issues In Mental Health Nursing, 26(9), 953-967. doi:10.1080/01612840500248262 Nesvold, H., Ormstad, K., & Friis, S. (2011). Sexual assault centres and police reporting—An important arena for medical/legal interaction. Journal Of Forensic Sciences, 56(5), 1163-1169. doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.01880.x Walsh, R. M., & Bruce, S. E. (2014). Reporting decisions after sexual assault: The impact of mental health variables .Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, And Policy, 6(6), 691-699. doi:10.1037/a0036592