10.1177/1077801204271566 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN / February 2005 Clay-Warner, Burt / REPORTING RAPE Rape Reporting After Reforms Have Times Really Changed? JODY CLAY-WARNER CALLIE HARBIN BURT University of Georgia Using data from the National Violence Against Women Survey, the authors examine whether rapes committed after reforms were more likely to be reported to police than those committed before reforms. The authors also consider whether the gap between the report- ing of simple versus aggravated rape has narrowed. They find that rapes committed after 1990 were more likely to be reported than rapes occurring before 1974. Aggravated rape continues to be more likely to be reported than simple rape, however, and this effect is sta- ble over time. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for evaluating the success of rape reform statutes. Keywords: rape reform; rape reporting; sexual assault Since the mid-1970s, sweeping changes have been made to laws governing forcible rape. These changes include the alteration of evidentiary requirements, establishment of rape shield statutes, modification of resistance requirements, and, in some cases, even redefining the crime of rape (e.g., Spohn & Horney, 1992). Prior to the institution of these reforms, many victims were reluctant to report rapes, fearing mistreatment from the criminal justice system and retaliation from the perpetrator (e.g., Bryden & Lengnick, 1997; Legrand, 1973; Robin, 1977). In fact, under-reporting was so widespread that some estimated that even if every rape reported resulted in a trial, more than 90% of rapists would never see the 150 AUTHORS’ NOTE: Data used in this article were obtained through the Inter- University Consortium for Political and Social Research housed at the University of Michigan. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, Vol. 11 No. 2, February 2005 150-176 DOI: 10.1177/1077801204271566 © 2005 Sage Publications at ARIZONA STATE UNIV on February 26, 2014 vaw.sagepub.com Downloaded from