Reasons for not reporting victimizations to the police: do they vary for physical and sexual incidents?
Victimization is a significant problem among college students, but it is less likely to be reported to the police than are victimizations in the general population.


OBJECTIVE
In this study, the authors examined (1) whether reasons for not reporting varied by type of victimization (sexual or physical) and (2) victim-, offender-, and incident-related predictors of these reasons.


METHODS
To address these objectives, the authors used data collected from 492 female college students.


METHODS
The authors recruited women via flyers placed around campus that asked them to come to the student health center to complete anonymous surveys.


RESULTS
Findings from within-subject analyses indicated that women were more likely to cite the following reasons for not reporting a sexual rather than a physical victimization: the incident would be viewed as their fault, they were ashamed, they did not want anyone to know about the incident, or they did not want the police involved. Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that the predictors of not reporting also varied across crime types.


CONCLUSIONS
The authors discuss study implications for campus-based prevention strategies.
Thompson
Martie
M
Clemson University, Department of Public Health Sciences, SC 29634, USA. mpthomp@clemson.edu
Sitterle
Dylan
D
Clay
George
G
Kingree
Jeffrey
J
D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016495:Police / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016387:Women's Health