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By Force and Without Consent: A Five Year Overview of Sexual Violence in South Carolina 2004-2008

NCJ Number
235546
Editor(s)
Rob McManus
Date Published
June 2010
Length
239 pages
Annotation
This report provides basic information about victims of sexual violence in the State over a five-year period.
Abstract
Results indicate that nearly all of the statewide indicators of sexual violence victimization trends demonstrated a decline from 2004 through 2008. The number of sexual violence victims decreased 10.7 percent, while the sexual violence victimization rate per 10,000 decreased 16.1 percent over the five-year period. The invasive sexual violence victimization rate decreased (17.2 percent), the rape victimization rate decreased (11.9 percent), the forcible sodomy victimization rate decreased (37.5 percent); the sexual assault with an object victimization rate decreased (19.6 percent) as did the forcible fondling victimization rate (14.3 percent). Sexual violence victimization rates against children and adults decreased 19.1 percent and 6.8 percent respectively from 2004 through 2008. Following the same pattern over the five-year time period, sexual violence victimization rates involving family victim/offender relationships decreased (6.8 percent), as did the sexual violence victimization rates involving marital victim/offender relationships (23.8 percent), sexual violence victimization involving victim/offender relationships where the victim and offender knew but did not have a family, marital or romantic relationship (17 percent), and sexual violence victimization involving strangers (18.1 percent). The exception to this pattern of decreasing sexual victimization rates was the sexual victimization rate involving romantic victim/offender relationships, which increased 5.6 percent from 2004 through 2008.