The role of safety and wellbeing in reporting decisions of sexual violence victim-survivors in England and Wales

This article uses an online survey of 586 victim-survivors to examine how safety and wellbeing shape decisions about reporting sexual violence to the police in England and Wales. Feeling physically and psychologically safe is central to wellbeing, so reporting decisions involved a complex and ongoing negotiation between these considerations. Both reporting and non-reporting were therefore active decisions based on the victim-survivor’s appraisal of how best to meet their social, emotional and justice needs. Reporting decisions were also dynamic, with some victim-survivors withdrawing from investigations as risks to safety and wellbeing became clearer. Similarly, both reporting and non-reporting victim-survivors felt considerable ambivalence about the reporting decision over time – many who reported described the legal process as retraumatising, while non-reporters often felt guilty about not fulfilling a perceived moral duty. Ultimately, we argue that portraying reporting as inherently altruistic unfairly responsibilises victim-survivors and obscures these realities. We call for reduced pressure to report, expansion of non-police support pathways, improved procedural justice within the legal process, and shifting responsibility for preventing sexual violence away from victim-survivors and onto institutions and society.