A false report of sexual assault is a reported assault that was never attempted. A report can only be determined to be false if an investigation finds evidence that it is more likely than not that no assault occurred, or if the complainant directly admits that the reported assault did not occur. A false report is not the same thing as an 'unfounded' or 'recanted' report, and many assaults are misclassified as false reports by law enforcement and media. Despite clear guidelines from the FBI, many studies have found routine misclassification and enormous disparities among police agencies in how cases are classified. (International Assoc. of Chiefs of Police, 2005).

Below are some examples of misclassified reports:

• Reports that are classified as false when no investigation occurred.
• Investigations that turned up insufficient evidence to prove that a crime did or did not occur.
• A survivor does not cooperate with investigators. They may not cooperate for many reasons: fear of how they will be treated by the criminal justice system, fear of not being believed, fear of how their own behavior will be judged.
• Cases in which a survivor reports an assault to campus administration but not to police (e.g. a survivor worries that law enforcement will not consider the assault 'serious enough' to prosecute). 

Widely held, inaccurate beliefs about the prevalence of false reporting are present in all groups, from college students to police officers. Survivors know this, and 95% of college students choose not to report their assaults so as not to face the vitriol that many survivors experience.

The blame and distrust frequently directed at survivors is often referred to as secondary victimization because survivors experience additional harm from friends, family and systems. In a survey of survivors who reported to police departments, secondary victimization was common: 87% of survivors felt blamed for their assault after speaking with the police; 70% experienced officers who said that the survivor's dress or behavior caused the assault; and 69% experienced officers who discouraged making a report.

A separate survey of survivors who did not report to police asked them to provide reasons for not doing so. The most common reasons included uncertainty that the authorities would consider the incident serious enough, fear of retaliation by the perpetrator, fear of hostile treatment by the authorities, and not knowing how to report the incident.

When people hear about a sexual assault case, they often move to making a decision about true or false/right or wrong; when in fact, we don't have to be the ones who make that judgment. If a friend tells you that they have been sexually assaulted, provide them with support and compassion. Listen and validate their experience. Offer them the resources that are trained and confidential to help them decide what to do next. Learn about sexual assault and how to respond to a friend and keep in mind this information about sexual assault reporting.