According to the NCVS the primary reason for not reporting an assault is that it is seen as a "private matter" (p. 3). The other cost factors suggested by "domestic violence literature" are; desire to protect offender, fear reprisals, engagement in illegal activities, and opportunity costs (Felson et al., 2002). These factors come into play when the consequences of reporting an assault out weight the reward.
The majority of Felson, Messner, Hoskin, and Deane's investigation is based on three independent variables: victim-offender relationship, gender of victim and gender of offender. As discussed earlier the indicators that Felson et al., believe are important to the decision making process are broken into cost and incentive categories. They focus on one motive for calling (self-protection) and five reasons for not calling (fear of reprisal, trivial matters, privacy, protection of offender and police leniency) (Felson et al., 2002). Felson, Messner, Hoskin, and Deane (2002) express their hypothesis by saying:.
We predict that victims who are involved in any ongoing relationship with the offender should be more likely to call the police to protect themselves. Female victims and victims of male offenders should also be especially likely to be concerned about self-protection. With respect to motives for not calling the police, fear of reprisal should be relatively important to victims in ongoing relationships, female victims, and victims of male offenders. Females assaulted by their male partners should be particularly likely to cite fear of reprisal as a reason not to call the police. We also expect that victims attacked by partners or family members should be more likely to decide not to report an incident because they believe it is a trivial matter Privacy concerns should emerge as an especially important motive for not calling the police for persons victimized by partners or relatives.
