Abstract
In a previous study (AEARCTR-0011814), we analyzed the importance of three factors in the reporting behavior of witnesses of violence against women: whether witnesses are required to identify and report the aggressor, whether they must disclose their own identity, and whether they have to report to the police. We found that reporting increased when the aggressor remained anonymous and when the police was the reporting institution. In this study, we aim to explore the mechanisms underlying these results, focusing on the role of fear as an emotion that may explain the effect of aggressor anonymity and the involvement of the police as the reporting institution.