Klair 1
Violence against women
Why is violence against women under-reported?
Khushmit Klair
Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
CC-100-BR2
Dr. Kelsey Loannoni
December 4th, 2022
, Klair 2
Why is violence against women under-reported?
Various researchers and studies have proved that women get victimized more often in
various crimes but still occur in underreporting. Violence against women is underreported and
must be taken into consideration to fix this issue. To fix the issue of underreporting violence
against women, we must understand the reasons behind it. Some women may not report violent
crimes due to the fear of being re-victimized, fear of the police not thinking it is a serious enough
crime, lack of evidence, or may not want to go through with the pain of the criminal process.
According to News 59, only 16-40% of rapes are reported to law enforcement which shows the
number of female victims that do not get the attention or support they need from the authorities
to catch the offender. In class, we had a lesson on violence against women where we talked about
how women used to be the property of men back in the day which was another reason for
underreporting as CJS used to view domestic violence as a private matter and not a criminal one.
This topic is an important issue as it affects every female who has experienced violence. Due to
underreporting, women in the future become afraid of reporting which turns into a pattern
resulting in a negative effect on their future regarding support, and mental and physical state. It is
important to learn about this issue, so we can avoid it from occurring in the future which can be
done by finding out the root causes of this issue and specifying the reasons behind the causes.
Violence against women
Why is violence against women under-reported?
Khushmit Klair
Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
CC-100-BR2
Dr. Kelsey Loannoni
December 4th, 2022
, Klair 2
Why is violence against women under-reported?
Various researchers and studies have proved that women get victimized more often in
various crimes but still occur in underreporting. Violence against women is underreported and
must be taken into consideration to fix this issue. To fix the issue of underreporting violence
against women, we must understand the reasons behind it. Some women may not report violent
crimes due to the fear of being re-victimized, fear of the police not thinking it is a serious enough
crime, lack of evidence, or may not want to go through with the pain of the criminal process.
According to News 59, only 16-40% of rapes are reported to law enforcement which shows the
number of female victims that do not get the attention or support they need from the authorities
to catch the offender. In class, we had a lesson on violence against women where we talked about
how women used to be the property of men back in the day which was another reason for
underreporting as CJS used to view domestic violence as a private matter and not a criminal one.
This topic is an important issue as it affects every female who has experienced violence. Due to
underreporting, women in the future become afraid of reporting which turns into a pattern
resulting in a negative effect on their future regarding support, and mental and physical state. It is
important to learn about this issue, so we can avoid it from occurring in the future which can be
done by finding out the root causes of this issue and specifying the reasons behind the causes.
