More sexual assault victims making police reports, some experts credit Me Too movement

6:57 am on 29 May 2025

woman sitting on bed in room with light from window (abuse concept)

More sexual assault victims are making police reports, and a victims' advocate is crediting the Me Too movement. Photo: 123RF

Warning: This story contains references to sexual assault.

The proportion of adult sexual assault victims making police reports has more than quadrupled since 2018, and a victims' advocate is crediting the Me Too movement.

In 2018, seven percent of sexual assault victims went to the police but that rose to 32 percent last year, the Ministry of Justice's Crime and Victims Survey data revealed.

The number of victims reporting grew from 5000 to 28,000, and the number of assaults reported grew from 9000 to 51,000.

Around two percent of adults have been sexually assaulted and that stayed steady in the last six years, it showed.

The ministry's 'Key Stories' report - a deep dive into some of the survey results - showed more people perceived sexual assaults as serious crimes, said its sector insights general manager, Rebecca Parish.

"We're largely putting that down to an increased awareness through campaigns like the Me Too campaign, White Ribbon, also reporting on some higher profile cases that are going through the courts ... understanding of exactly what sexual assault encompasses, and that it's not okay," she said.

There is a caveat to the data: the trend over time is not consistent.

"Reporting rates for sexual assault are relatively volatile and additional years of reporting data will be important for verifying this trend," the report said.

Slow, adversarial justice system puts people off reporting - advocate

While the increase in reporting of sexual assault was significant, it still meant 68 percent of victims stayed silent.

Last year, 22 percent of victims who did not report an assault to police said they did not think police could do anything.

"This belief is reasonable," the report said.

It noted in 2021 police laid charges for only 40 percent of reported sexual assaults. Of those, 12 percent resulted in a conviction and nearly 70 percent of victims waited at least two years for an outcome in court.

The executive director of sexual abuse prevention and survivor support organisation HELP Auckland, Kathryn McPhillips, said the rise in reporting was more than she expected.

The country was "some years into a significant period of change", she said, thanks to campaigns like those Parish noted, and government investment.

HELP Auckland executive director Kathryn McPhillips. Photo: Photo / Sarah Robson

But McPhillips believed one of the reasons people did not report being assaulted was that they viewed the justice system as slow and adversarial.

Waiting years to be heard, then taking the stand and being accused of lying was a tough ask, she said.

"Lots of people ... if they report it, they don't start healing till after the process has ended because it's kind of like holding your breath.

"You know you're still going to have to go through this re-traumatising process."

A change in courtroom procedure for sexual assault cases would help by having the judge ask most of the questions and lawyers only pose supplementary ones, she said.

McPhillips also said the successful pilot of specialist sexual violence courts in Auckland and Whangārei was due to be rolled out nationally, but she did not know where it had got to.

"If that could happen, that would certainly make a difference."

A June 2019 report evaluating the pilot said there was "unanimous support" for it to be extended to courts across the country.

RNZ has asked the Ministry of Justice for further comment.

More sexual assault victims need medical help

A higher proportion of victims also needed to seek medical help after being sexually assaulted: 20 percent in 2024, compared to 5 percent two years prior (data was not available as far back as 2018).

That was unsurprising, McPhillips said.

"That's certainly in line with what we're seeing of the physical violence which is happening with sexual assaults associated with people meeting up from dating apps," she said.

McPhillips put that down to pornography becoming more violent.

"People are using that as their sexual education, if you like, and so thinking that the things they see on screen, that it's acceptable for them to do those things to other people, which of course it's not."