Study Finds Agencies Can React More Supportively Than Family and Friends to Victims' Disclosures of Sexual Assault

An article recently published on the National Institute of Justice website looks at research indicating that when a woman reports becoming a victim of sexual assault — formally, to law enforcement or a community service provider, or informally, to family, friends or other intimates — the reaction itself, if negative, can cause further harm to the victim. In the study, victims reported receiving more negative reactions from informal supports (e.g., peers, family members) than they experienced when disclosing sexual assault to police or community-based service providers. Understanding the dynamics of how people and institutions react to sexual assault reports, and the impact of differing reactions on victims, is important at a time when, as the researchers noted, society's response to sexual assault nationally is shifting toward community-coordinated action, with law enforcement and community service providers increasingly working together. Read more at https://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/rape-sexual-violence/Pages/agencies-react-supportively-to-disclosures.aspx