Reporting Sexual Assault to the Police in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1987-1992

This study was undertaken to investigate factors
facilitating and hindering a victim's decision to report a sexual
assault to the police. Further objectives were to use the findings to
assist in the design of effective intervention methods by sexual
assault treatment centers and community education projects, and to
present significant findings useful for community policing and other
criminal justice initiatives. Survey data for this study were
collected from female victims of nonincestuous sexual assault
incidents who were at least 14 years of age and sought treatment
(within one year of being assaulted) from the Sex Abuse Treatment
Center (SATC) in Honolulu, Hawaii, during 1987-1992. Data were
collected on two types of victims: (1) immediate treatment seekers,
who sought treatment within 72 hours of an assault incident, and (2)
delayed treatment seekers, who sought treatment 72 hours or longer
after an assault incident. Demographic variables for the victims
include age at the time of the assault, marital status, employment
status, educational level, and race and ethnicity. Other variables
include where the attack took place, the victim's relationship to the
assailant, the number of assailants, and whether the assailant(s) used
threats, force, or a weapon, or injured or drugged the
victim. Additional variables cover whether the victim attempted to get
away, resisted physically, yelled, and/or reported the incident to the
police, how the victim learned about the Sex Abuse Treatment Center,
whether the victim was a tourist, in the military, or a resident of
the island, the number of days between the assault and the interview,
and a self-reported trauma Sexual Assault Symptom Scale measure.