NCJ Number
189930
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2001 Pages: 278-301
Date Published
June 2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on the phenomenon of nonreporting to police among women who have been sexually victimized and who live in Japan.
Abstract
A nationwide survey compared Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English-speaking women in Japan. From a distribution of 2,500 questionnaires, a total sample size of 748 developed from all four ethnic groups. From this number, 281 stated they had been a victim of some type of crime, and 217 (29 percent) reported they had been a victim of sexual assault. Variables focused on demographics, attitudes, social conditions, and culture. Japanese women had a different pattern of behavior from the other three groups. The greatest differences were between Japanese and English-speaking women. The main reasons given for not reporting to the police were the following: victim did not take the event seriously; victim thought she was too young; victim thought reporting would cause trouble; victim expected rude police; victim expected embarrassment; victim expected police to violate her confidentiality; victim expected offender's revenge; and victim expected that the offender/acquaintance would get into trouble. These data suggested a much larger dark figure of sexual assault than was reported, especially among those who were not Japanese and those whose offenders were known. Police statistics did not accurately reflect the number of women sexually assaulted, nor was there any systematic information collected to explain their reporting behavior. 13 tables and 36 references