Well how would that have helped the perpetrator? He'd be the first person the police would look at. In most cases, retaliating for this kind of thing is not the

Well how would that have helped the perpetrator? He'd be the first person the police would look at. In most cases, retaliating for this kind of thing is not the rational thing to do. That doesn't mean it won't happen, but it's unlikely. When people retaliate against victims for reporting them, it's generally because there's a long game that they're concerned about. It could be an organized crime outfit that's concerned about it's future, it's reputation etc. Or an abusive partner who expects to be able to continue the abuse long term, so they want to "nip it in the bud" when someone talks to the police. So even though they may get in more trouble for the retaliation, they think it's worth it in the long term. The victims in these cases are usually captive in some sense. Imo, generally when you're the victim of an unexpected crime, you're safer reporting to the authorities than you would be keeping quiet about it.