Rape and Sexual Assault Statistics

Statistics
Rape and sexual assault statistics are difficult to determine because only approximately 16% of sexual assaults are reported. The U.S. Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey estimates 302,100 women and 92, 700 men are forcibly raped each year in the United States.

Around the world, at least 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Most often the abuser is someone known to the victim.

Perpetrators
According to the U.S. Dept of Justice, women commit 2% of total sexual assaults committed by violent offenders.

In 2004, 66% of all CA registered sex offenders were in the community, 17% were incarcerated, 13% were out of state and 3% were deported.

82% of the suspected perpetrators of child sexual abuse in a study sample were at the time of the offense, or had been at some time, involved in a heterosexual relationship with a close relative of the child they victimized.

The typical child sex offender molests an average of 117 children, most of whom do not report the offense.

Acquaintance Rape
Approximately 77% of completed rapes are committed by someone who is known to the victim. This compares to about half the victims of violent crimes that knew their offender.

In a survey of college campuses in the U.S., 84% of sexual assault victims knew their attacker and 57% of the rapes happened on dates.

Gang Rape
Approximately 11% of rapes and sexual assaults are committed by multiple assailants.

In 76% of sexual assaults committed by multiple assailants, the assailants were strangers to the victim.

Sexual Assault and Young People
Between 33-66% of know sexual assault victims are age 15 or younger.

Of the 22.3 million adolescents in the U.S. today, 1.8 million have been victims of serious sexual assault.

Juvenile victims (77%) of sexual assault were more likely than adults (55%) to be victimized in their residence. Older juveniles (12-17 years of age) were more likely to be victims in locations such as: roadways, field/woods, schools, hotels/motels.

Children who grow up in a family where there is domestic violence are eight times more likely to be sexually molested within that family.

Women who reported childhood rape were three times more likely to become pregnant before age 18.

Sexual Assault and Persons with Disabilities
Approximately 14% of men with disabilities report being forced or coerced into sexual activity before they were 14 years of age. The median age of their perpetrator was 27 years of age.

15,000 to 19,000 people with developmental disabilities are raped each year in North America (Canada and the U.S.).

It is estimated that 79.6% of people with disabilities were sexually assaulted on more than one occasion. 50% of those experienced more than 10 victimizations.

Sexual Assault and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual
and Transgender (GLBT) Individuals
It is estimated that only 13-14% of anti-gay violence is reported to the police. Victims often believe that discussion of their sexuality will subject them to further victimization.

There were 2,552 reported anti-gay incidents in 1998, of which 88 were sexual assault or rapes.

The increase in rapes and sexual assaults has continually risen by 8-13%.

Men living with male intimate partners experience more intimate partner violence than do men living with female intimate partners. 15% of men who lived with a man as a couple reported being raped/assaulted or stalked by a male cohabitant.

Spousal/Partner Rape
Nearly 25 million women and 7 million men worldwide are raped and/or physically assaulted by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Sexual assault is reported by 33-46% of women who are being physically assaulted by their husbands.

Studies indicate a higher prevalence of partner/spousal violence in young partners in the early stages of marriage. Highest rates were with partners 30 years old and younger with the highest prevalence among those in the 18-24 year old age group.

Sexual Assault and Men
An estimated 92,700 men are forcibly raped each year in the U.S.

In a study of male survivors sexually abused as children, over 80% had a history of substance abuse; 50% had suicidal thoughts; 23% had attempted suicide; and almost 70% had received psychological treatment.

Male stranger rape victims were more likely to have had their assaults involve weapons and physical violence when compared to the characteristics of the assaults of women.

Male victims are often assessed more blame for their assaults than female victims.

Sexual Assault, Drugs and Alcohol
Since 1990, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has identified 68 GHB related deaths. 10% of deaths involved 14-19 year olds, 58% were 20-29 years old and 21% were 30-39 years old. Additionally, 60% of the decedents were male and 93% were white.

Although popular media presentations of date related drugs labels Rohypnol and GHB as the common date rape drugs, there exist approximately 22 substances used in drug facilitated rapes, of which alcohol is the most common finding in investigations of drug-facilitated sexual assault cases.

A survey of college women indicated that 15% reported having anal or vaginal intercourse when they did not want to because they were unable to consent as a result of incapacitation by drugs or alcohol.

School based surveys suggest Rohypnol and GHB are consumed voluntarily, perhaps increasingly so, because they are cheap, easy to share and easy to hide.

*Note: All Statistics presented here are from the CALCASA 2006 Report Research on Rape & Violence

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