The Classic Rape: When Do Victims Report?

Why do many rape victims not report to the police? This paper suggests that victims of the “classic” rape situation, involving violent attack by a stranger, are most likely to report to police because they see themselves as true crime victims. Women who are raped by men they know, at home or in social settings, are less likely to report because they question their role and responsibility in the attack. I look at the cases of 246 raped women who contacted a rape crisis center, and analyze their relationships to their rapists and such characteristics of the attack as the setting, the threat and use of force, the degree of injury, and the need for medical treatment.