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Sexual assault is one of the most serious and fastest growing violent crimes in America.(ref 1-7)

• The National Victim Center reports that over 700,000 women are raped or sexually assaulted annually.
  
  
• In the United States, 1.3 women are raped every minute. That results in 78 rapes each hour, 1872 rapes each day, 56160 rapes each month and 700,000 rapes each year.
  
  
• The legal term "rape" has traditionally referred to forced vaginal penetration of a woman by a male assailant. Many states have now abandoned this concept in favor of the gender neutral concept of sexual assault. Among the acts classified as sexual assault is acquaintance, or date rape, generally defined as an assault in which the assailant is known to the victim.(ref 1,5,7) Approximately 20% of sexual assaults against women are perpetrated by assailants unknown to the victim.(ref 4) The remainder are committed by friends, acquaintances, intimates, and family members. Acquaintance rape is particularly common among adolescent victims.
  
  
• Of these, 61% are under the age of 18.(ref 1) Less is known about the frequency of rapes perpetrated against men.
  
  
• The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that about 5% of sexual assaults are perpetrated against male victims. Because many of these attacks occurring daily go unreported and unrecognized, sexual assault can be considered a silent-violent epidemic in the United States today.
  
  
• As is true of other violent crimes, it is difficult to get accurate estimates of the incidence of sexual assault. It is generally accepted that less than half of rapes are reported to authorities; some estimates are as low as 10%.(ref 3) Many factors contribute to under-reporting, including embarrassment, fear of further injury, and fear of court procedures that, too often, scrutinize and judge the victim's behavior and history.
  
  
• The United States has the world's highest rape rate of the countries that publish such statistics---4 times higher than Germany, 13 times higher than England, and 20 times higher than Japan.
  
  
• 1 out of every 3 American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime.
  
  
• 1 in 7 women will be raped by her husband.
  
  
• 61% of all rape cases are victims less than 18 years old. 22% are between the ages of 18 and 24.
  
  
• 78% of rape victims know the attacker.
  
  
• In a survey of college women, 38% reported sexual victimizations which met the legal definition of a rape or attempted rape, yet only 1 out of every 25 reported their assault to the police.
  
  
• 1 in 4 college women have either been raped or suffered attempted rape.
  
  
• In a study of college students, 35% of men indicated some likelihood that they would commit a violent rape of a woman who had fended off an advance if they were assured of getting away with it.
  
  
• 1 in 12 male students surveyed had committed acts that met the legal definition of rape. Furthermore, 84% of the men who had committed such acts said what they had done was definitely not rape.
  
  
• 75% of male students and 55% of female students involved in acquaintance rape had been drinking or using drugs.
  
  
• Rape has a devastating impact on the mental health of victims. 31% of all victims develop Rape-Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (RR-PTSD) sometime in their lifetimes. Based on U.S. Census reports on the number of women in the United States, 1.3 million women currently have RR-PTSD, 3.8 million women have previously had RR-PTSD and roughly 211,000 women will develop RR-PTSD each year.
  
  
• When compared with nonvictims, rape victims have been found to be 8.7 times more likely to attempt suicide.
  
  
• Sexual assaults can and do occur within marital relationships. Most often, these assaults occur within a context of on-going domestic violence. While reports and prosecutions of spousal rape are fairly infrequent, some convictions have occurred.
  
  
• Only 16% of rapes are ever reported to the police. In a survey of victims who did not report rape or attempted rape to the police, the following was found as to why no report was made: 43% thought nothing could be done, 27% felt it was a private matter, 12% were afraid of police response, and 12% felt it was not important enough.

Note: Blanks indicate detail was not reported. *Excludes victims with unknown age.
Source: BJS State survey of rapes reported to law enforcement agencies in 1992.

Note: Blanks indicate detail was not reported. *Excludes victims with unknown age.
Source: BJS State survey of rapes reported to law enforcement agencies in 1992.

Victim-offender relationship:

Source: Victims in 3 States

Source: Imprisoned rapists

a. Includes other nonfamily relationships.
b. May include some 12-year-olds.

Sources: Tabulated from data described in Using NIBRS Data to Analyze Violent Crime, BJS technical report, NCJ- 144785, October 1993; BJS, Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991, NCJ-136949, March 1993.