Toward an Open Analysis Ecosystem for Plasmodium Genomic Epidemiology.

Sexual assault is pervasive, with roughly 1 in 4 women (26.8%), 1 in 26 men (3.8%), and 1 in 3 transgender and gender-diverse individuals (33.6%) experiencing completed or attempted rape at some point in their lives (; ). Yet despite the frequency with which it occurs, sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes (). The 2018 National Crime Victimization Survey found that 75% of rapes are not reported to police (), with some studies finding non-reporting rates as high as 95% (see , for a review). These low rates of police reporting have been identified as a public safety issue (), particularly as many individuals who perpetrate sexual assault do so multiple times (; ). Yet most reported sexual assaults are closed with only minimal investigation (; ) and there has been extensive documentation of victims’ re-traumatization within the criminal legal system (; ). Qualitative research has explored victims’ reasons for not reporting, common among them the perceptions that reporting an assault to police will not help and may make things worse (; ). Quantitative studies, too, have analyzed victim, offender, and assault characteristics in samples of reporting and non-reporting cases to identify variables that predict reporting. The current study builds on this literature by exploring victim and assault characteristics that predict police reporting among victims who seek a post-assault medical forensic exam. Because most sexual assault victims do not seek any formal post-assault services (Rennison, 2022; ), identifying predictors of reporting among victims who seek post-assault medical care and have forensic evidence collected but do not report their assault to police at that time has the potential to highlight unique concerns that victims may have about reporting to police specifically, rather than concerns about engaging with formal help-seeking systems more broadly. For decades, community activists have criticized cultural reliance on rape stereotypes, also called rape myths, to distinguish serious cases of sexual assault from supposed false allegations or harmless misunderstandings (; ; ; ). These rape myths rely on the idea that, with few exceptions, victims could prevent sexual assault if they truly wanted to and, therefore, most reported sexual assaults are regretted consensual sex. The few exceptions thought to indicate “real rape” are characterized by stranger or multiple assailants, physical force, and victim injury (; ). Similarly, in the aftermath of “real rape,” victims are expected to respond in a uniformly traumatized manner and immediately seek help (; ). These myths have been documented in police reports and tied to law enforcement’s response to sexual assault (; ).