Unit 1 - Florida Council Against Sexual Violence

Show slides, Barriers to Self-Reporting.
Slides:
Barriers to Self
Reporting
Focus on the ones that the participants don’t provide.
Speaking Points:
Barriers to self-reporting include:
• Lack of education about sexual violence - may not
define experience as sexual assault.
• May not know how to report or have access to do so.
• Fear of retaliation, fear of not being believed or fear
of loss of personal care or other services.
• Difficulty in communicating with police, prosecutors
and judges, if they do report.
• Lack of language skills or comfort level to explain
what has happened to them.
• May face being seen as unreliable witness because of
age and/or impairment.
• Fear of losing their independence and being forced to
leave their home and live in a more restrictive setting.
• May not be believed because of cultural perspective
that older adults are forgetful or mentally impaired.
• They are ashamed.
• If perpetrator is adult child of victim, may not want
to get him or her in trouble and feel shame that their
child could do such a thing.
• Perpetrator may keep them isolated and unable to
report.
• May be too ill or incapacitated to report.
• May have been in abusive relationship for sometime
and doesn’t know about marital rape law; may not
see it as sexual assault.
FCASV Elder Sexual Abuse Trainer’s Guide 26
Unit 1