Laws relating to the offenses of rape, attempted rape, and indecent assault were expunged from the Criminal Code and replaced with a trilogy of sexual assault offenses: sexual assault, sexual assault with a weapon, threats to a third party or bodily harm, and aggravated sexual assault. The definition of a sexual assault was left for the courts to resolve. Maximum penalties established by the Act ranged from 10 years to life imprisonment. The impact of the Act's sexual assault provisions was evaluated between 1985 and 1991. Data from six sites included in the evaluation revealed an increase in the number of sexual assault reports across the country. There was some consensus among key respondents that sexual assault was underreported and that victims' reasons for not reporting included fear of the assailant, shame, dread of the criminal justice process, and a sense that the incident was not worth reporting. Clearance rates for sexual assault were similar to those for other crimes involving violence. According to information gathered in 1987, very few sexual assault victims knew that the law had been amended.