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Get the exam first. It is free, it does not require a police report, and for an adult it is available within 120 hours. The Houston hospitals that perform it are listed on our Houston SANE exam locations page.
If you are able to, report to the police now. You are not required to, but the same early evidence that builds a prosecution builds a civil claim.
Then call 713-521-0059, or message us, and say it happened this week. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept. There is no guaranteed response time, but we typically respond within 12 to 24 hours of a call or message.
Technically, no. The forensic exam, the evidence kit and a civil claim against a business or property owner do not depend on a police report. Reporting is your decision, and the law lets you make it later.
A civil case is won on evidence, and the strongest evidence is collected in the first hours. That means the forensic exam, any drug testing, a police report that dates your account, and the video that is still on the business’s system. The same evidence that builds a criminal prosecution builds a civil claim. In both, now is better than later.
So the answer has two parts. You are not required to report. If you are able to, reporting now, getting the exam now and preserving the video now is usually the best thing you can do for a civil case. Call 713-521-0059. We will tell you what your case needs and get it started, beginning with written notice to whoever holds the video and records so it is kept.
No. Article 56A.303(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that a victim “may not be required to participate in the investigation or prosecution of an offense as a condition of receiving a forensic medical examination”. The hospital collects the evidence and keeps it whether or not you report. See how long a rape kit is kept in Texas.
Yes. The kit from an unreported exam is kept for years, and you can report at any point while it exists. For evidence collected on or after 1 December 2025, Section 420.0736 of the Government Code also allows DNA testing of the kit without a report, with limits the consent form explains. Our page on what if you never reported covers delayed reporting in detail.
No. A civil claim is a separate case with a lower standard of proof. It can be brought against a hotel, an apartment complex, a bar, a school or a company without any criminal case at all.
A police report can help, because it dates your account and often triggers the business’s own incident file. It is not required. See bringing a civil claim without a criminal case.
Reporting right away. A police report made the same night or the next day fixes the date, the place and your account before memory fades and before anyone suggests you made it up later. It lets the police request the business’s video and records with authority a private letter does not carry.
It opens the kit to a DNA database comparison that can identify the attacker and tie the same person to other cases. Each of those is evidence a defense lawyer cannot easily attack, and each is harder to get the longer you wait.
Reporting also starts a criminal process that you will have less control over than a civil claim, and an advocate at the Houston Area Women’s Center (1-800-256-0661) can talk that through with you. The point is not that you must report. It is that if you can, the sooner the better, for the civil case as much as the criminal one.
Crime victims compensation is available without a conviction, and under Article 56B.107(d) a forensic medical examination is sufficient evidence of cooperation. See Texas crime victims compensation.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
If you remember nothing else from this page, remember these.
When you call, we listen first. Then we do what your case needs. That usually begins with written notice to the hotel, apartment complex, bar, rideshare company or anyone else holding video and records, so the evidence is kept.
Where the case calls for it, we bring in the right experts and, where it serves you, co-counsel with the resources a case like this demands. That decision is made in writing, with your consent, and it does not increase your total fee.
We tell you plainly whether a civil claim may exist and what it would take. Schiffer Law Firm is a Houston firm and has handled injury cases in Harris County for 50 plus years. There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
No. Article 56A.303(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure says you may not be required to participate in an investigation or prosecution as a condition of the exam. Reporting promptly is still usually the best choice for any later case.
Yes, a civil claim does not require a police report or a conviction. The claim is built from the business's own records, which is why the preservation letter matters more than the report.
The kit from an unreported exam is kept for years, so reporting later is possible while it exists. See our page on how long a kit is kept.
Usually, yes. A prompt report dates your account, triggers the business's incident file and lets the police secure video and records. The same evidence that builds a prosecution builds a civil claim, and it is strongest when collected early.