Rape and Sexual Assault

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, there were 198,850 rapes and sexual assaults measured in 2003. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2004. Criminal Victimization, 2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Among female victims of rape and sexual assault, 70 percent of the crimes were committed by intimates, other relatives, friends or acquaintances. (Ibid.)

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the average number of rapes and sexual assaults during 2002 and 2003 was 223,290 of which 81,310 crimes were rapes; 61,060 were attempted rapes, and 80,910 were sexual assaults. (Ibid.)

In 2003, weapons were present in rapes and sexual assaults 11 percent of the time. (Ibid.)

The annual rate of rapes and sexual assaults overall between 1993 and 2003 declined 68 percent. (Ibid.)

In 2003, 38.5 percent of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to the police. (Ibid.)

In 2002 and 2003 respectively, 69.1 and 70.0 alleged sexual assaults were reported per 100,000 uniformed service members. Across the Department of Defense, there were 901 cases reported of uniformed service victims in 2002 and 1,012 cases reported in 2003. (U.S. Department of Defense. 2004. Task Force Report on Care for Victims of Sexual Assault. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Defense.)

Victims of sexual assault committed by juveniles are younger than 18 years of age approximately 96 percent of the time. (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 2004. Victims of Violent Juvenile Crime. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Adult victims of juvenile sex offenders were much less likely to be strangers than were adult victims of adult sex offenders. (Ibid.)

More than one in four victims of a juvenile or adult sex offender was a family member. (Ibid.)

Contrary to common belief that violent crime rates are notably lower in rural areas, a recent analysis of location data collected for the 1989 National Women's Study found that 10.1 percent of women living in rural areas had experienced a completed rape compared to 13.6 percent of women living in urban and suburban communities. (Lewis, S. 2003. Unspoken Crimes: Sexual Assault in Rural America. Enola, PA: National Sexual Violence Resource Center.)

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the number of forcible rapes reported to law enforcement in 2003 declined in every population group in the nation with the exception of communities of 25,000 to 49,999 where reports increased by 3.2 percent and communities of under 10,000 where reports increased by 3.7 percent. (Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2004. Crime in the United States, Preliminary Uniform Crime Reports, 2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Overall, forcible rapes reported to law enforcement in 2003 declined by 1.9 percent from 2002. (Ibid.)

According to FBI statistics, there were 95,136 forcible rapes of females in 2002, representing a 4.7 percent increase from the previous year. (Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2003. Crime in the United States, 2002. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Arrests for forcible rape in 2002 were estimated at 28,288. (Ibid.)

An average of 140,990 completed rapes, 109,230 attempted rapes, and 152,680 completed and attempted sexual assaults were committed against persons age 12 or older in the United States between the years 1992 and 2000. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2002. Rape and Sexual Assault: Reporting to Police and Medical Attention, 1992-2000. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Only 36 percent of completed rapes were reported to the police during the years 1992 to 2000. Thirty-four percent of the attempted rapes, and 26 percent of the completed and attempted sexual assaults were reported. (Ibid.)

A recently published eight-year study indicates that when perpetrators of completed rape are current or former husbands or boyfriends, the crimes go unreported to the police 77 percent of the time. When the perpetrators are friends or acquaintances, the rapes go unreported 61 percent of the time. When the perpetrators are strangers, the rapes go unreported 54 percent of the time. (Ibid.)

A recent report based on the 1995 National Survey of Adolescents (NSA) found that 13 percent of girls and 3.4 percent of boys surveyed had been sexually assaulted. (National Institute of Justice. 2003. Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Of the sexual assault victims in the NSA, 74 percent reported that the assault was committed by someone they knew well. Almost one-third (32.5 percent) of sexual assault cases involved perpetrators who were friends, 21.1 percent were committed by a family member, and 23.2 percent were committed by strangers. (Ibid.)

Slightly more than one in four sexual assault victims (28.1 percent) said they feared death or serious injury during the sexual assault. (Ibid.)

The majority of adolescent sexual assaults (86 percent) went unreported. (Ibid.)

Offenders perceived to be using drugs and/or alcohol committed about two in five rapes/sexual assaults against college students. (Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2003. Violent Victimization of College Students. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

Between 1995 – 2000, 86 percent of all rapes/sexual assaults committed against college students were not reported to police, compared to 12 percent that were reported. (Ibid.)