Women’s Independent Press

Some statistics on Sexual violence obtained from the Department of Justice include :

An average 233,986 Americans age 12 and older are sexually assaulted each year.

Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted.

• 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. ² Among all victims, about nine out of ten are female.
• 1 out of every 33 American men has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in his lifetime. ² About 10% of all victims are male.

• Age of sexual assault victims

•  
  • 15% are under age 12.
  • 29% are age 12-17
  • 44% are under age 18
  • 80% are under age 30
  • Ages 12-34 are the highest risk years  
  • Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the general population to be victims of sexual assault.

• Estimated persons raped in lifetime by gender and race

•  
  • Women
    • 17.7% of white women
    • 18.8% of African-American women
    • 6.8% of Asian / Pacific Islander women
    • 34.1% of American Indian / Alaskan Native women
    • 24.4% mixed race women
    • 14.6% of Hispanic women
  • Men
    • 2.8% of white men
    • 3.3% of African-American men
    • 4.4% of mixed race men
    • The sample size was too small to estimate for Asian/ Pacific Islander and American Indian / Alaskan Native men

Effects of Rape

Physical Injuries
100% of completed rapes, 39% of attempted rapes, and 17% sexual assaults against females result in injured victims.

• 33% of victims sustain minor (bruises and chipped teeth) physical injuries
• 5% of victims sustain major (broken bones and gunshot wounds) injuries
• 61% of victims sustain undetermined injuries

Only around 36% of injured victims receive medical care.

• 82% of those cared for use hospital services
• 55% use physician services
• 17% use dental services
• 19% use ambulatory / paramedic services
• 17% use physical therapy services

Mental Health
Victims of sexual assault are:

• 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
• 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
• 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
• 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

Economic
About 1 in 11 sexual assault victims reported that they suffered some economic loss as a consequence of the crime.

• The average economic loss (in 1997) was about $200
• Nearly 7% of victims reported losing time from work.

Reporting to Police

• There were 90,427 forcible rapes reported to police in 2007.  
• Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with an average of 39% being reported to the police each year.
• When victims of rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault did not report the crime to the police, the most often cited reasons were:

•  
  • Rape:
    • personal matter (23.3%)
    • fear of reprisal (16.3%)
    • police biased (5.8%)
  • Attempted rape:
    • personal matter (16.8%);
    • fear of reprisal (11.3%);
    • protect offender (9.9%)
  • Completed and attempted sexual assault:
    • personal matter (25.3%);
    • reported to different official (12.4%);
    • fear of reprisal (11.3%)
• The closer the relationship between the female victim and the offender, the greater the likelihood that the incident will not be reported.  
  • When the offender was a current or former husband or boyfriend, about 75% of all victimizations were not reported to police.
  • When the offender was a friend or acquaintance, an average 71% were not reported.
  • When the offender was a stranger, an average 44% were not reported

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Offenders

• Almost 2/3 of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.

•  
  • 23% of rapists are an intimate
  • 3% are another relative
  • 38% are a friend or acquaintance
  • 31% are a stranger
  • 6% are unknown
• Only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail.
• The average age of an arrested rapist is 31 years old.
  • 0.6% are 17 years old or younger
  • 54.6% are 18 to 29 years old
  • 28.6% are 30 to 39 years old
  • 8.9% are 40 to 49 years old
  • 7.3% are 50 years old or older
• Marital status of arrested rapists.
  • 22.1% are married
  • 1.2% are widowed
  • 28.5% are divorced
  • 6.2% are separated
  • 42% are never married
• An average 8% of sexual assaults each year involve the use of a weapon.
  • 2% use a firearm
  • 4% use a knife
  • 2% use another form of weapon
  • 6% are unsure
  • 87% of victims reported the use of physical force only
• Convicted rapists made up 1.2% of the 272,111 state prisoners released in 1994, and 46% of these released rapists were rearrested within three years for some type of felony or serious misdemeanor
  • 2.5% were rearrested for another rape.
• In 1999, women accounted for 1 in 50 offenders committing a violent sex offense including rape and sexual assault
  • Nearly 6 in 10 of these women serving time in state prisons have experienced physical or sexual abuse in the past.
• Offenders in sexual assault murders are about 6 years younger on average than other murderers’
  • Youth under 18 have accounted for about 10% of the sexual assault murders since 1976.