Factors related to rape victims’ decision to file police reports

Abstract

Victims of rape must decide whether to file a police report, and many victims decide not to report the rape to the police. The literature on the associations between demographic and individual factors and reporting rape to the police is limited. Here, we investigated the associations between demographic and individual factors (education, socioeconomic status, age, native country, years lived in Finland, gender, sexual orientation, relationship status, close persons, substance use, and mental disorder) and police reporting in a Finnish sample of rape victims (N = 191) who visited the Helsinki Seri Support Center. We collected data through an online survey. We found some evidence that victims with a university degree might be less likely to report than those with a vocational qualification. None of the other factors measured were robustly associated with reporting. It is possible that the services provided by the Seri Support Center successfully mitigate otherwise encountered obstacles to reporting. The current study was the first to investigate this topic in Finland. The practical implications of these findings are discussed, and the value of support services highlighted.