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1997 Academy Text Supplement

Chapter 14

Sexual Assault

Statistical Overview

• Preliminary estimates for 1995 indicate that 260,300 rapes and attempted rapes and nearly 95,000 sexual assaults and threats of sexual assaults were committed against persons 12 years of age or older. ("Sex Offenses and Offenders: An Analysis of Data on Rape and Sexual Assault," 1996. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, D.C.)



• In 1995, 97,460 forcible rapes were reported to the police, the lowest total reported since 1989. (Ibid.)



• Of the number of reported rapes for 1995, the rate of rape was 76 per 100,000 women living in metropolitan areas as compared to 49 per 100,000 women living in rural areas. (Ibid.)



• Slightly under half (43.4 percent) of all rapes/sexual assaults were found to occur between 6 p.m. and midnight; and six out of every 10 rape/sexual assaults occurred in the homes of the victim, family members or friends. (Ibid.)



• Sexual assaults were found to be highest among residents age 16 to 19, low income residents, and urban residents. (Ibid.)



• The rate of rape among women was 10 percent lower in 1995 (80 per 100,000 versus 72 per 100,000) than in 1990. (Ibid.)



• About nine out of 10 rape/sexual assault victimizations involved a single offender and with whom the victim had a prior relationship as a family member, intimate, or acquaintance. (Ibid.)



• According to information reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, in Estimates from the Redesigned Survey (1995) and Violence Between Intimates (1994): former husbands, boyfriends, and ex-boyfriends committed 26 percent of rapes and sexual assaults.



• A large and increasing number of prison inmates are sexual offenders. In 1980, state prisons held 20,500 sex offenders. By 1994 over 88,000 sex offenders were held in state prisons -- comprising nearly 10 percent of all state prison populations. (Finn, Peter, "Sexual Offender Community Notification, Research in Action," November 1996. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C.)

New Data on the Financial Impact of Sexual Assault

• Overall, rape has the highest annual victim costs at $127 billion per year (excluding child sex abuse), followed by assault at $93 billion, murder (excluding arson and drunk driving) at $61 billion, and child abuse at $56 billion. (Miller, Ted R., Cohen, Mark A., Wiersema, Brian, "Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look," February 1996. U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, Washington, D.C.)

New Developments in Targeting Sexual Assault

Against Young Victims

Because the overwhelming majority of sexual crimes are committed by intimates and against youth, victim assistance, rape awareness and prevention programs are increasingly targeting grade school and junior high school students. Significantly, the 1994 Violence Against Women Act provides priority funding for educational programs targeted to middle and junior high school students. For example:

• In California, the Santa Monica Hospital Rape Treatment Center has developed nationally distributed materials and a videotape on preventing acquaintance rape on campus.

• Increasingly, colleges and universities are including sexual assault awareness as part of new student orientation and ongoing educational sessions.

Privacy Rights of Sexual Assault Victims

Privacy remains a critical concern of victims of sexual assault, and a primary factor in non-reporting. Several states have enacted privacy protection laws to prevent the name and address, or other identifying information about rape victims, to be made public. In addition, many law enforcement agencies have adopted policies to exclude such information before the release of police reports to the media.

Drug-Related Rape

An emerging issue in the past few years has been the use of legal and illegal drugs by potential rapists who sedate their intended victims involuntarily. Such drugs are put into non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages in a variety of social settings. Substance-related rapes present severe difficulties for survivors of rape, as well as for those trying to prevent their victimization. Many articles have appeared in the media about the threat and the susceptibility of individuals to this type of victimization.

According to the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the most threatening problem is the emergence of a drug that results "in the inability of the rape survivor to remember the details of what happened as a result of the heavy sedating effect of the drug and/or alcohol heightens the difficulty of gathering information that could help prosecute the offender." (NCASA News, Volume 6, Number 1, April 1997)

Congress passed the following Act in 1996:

• The Drug-Induced Rape Prevention Act of 1996 was enacted to address the emerging issue of the use of sedating drugs by rapists on their victims.

• The Act sets forth prison terms of up to 20 years for offenders convicted of using controlled substances with the intent to commit a violent crime, including rape.

According to the April 1997 edition of the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault News, there are new drug testing capabilities available that may help in collecting evidence in relation to substance abuse cases. Hoffmann-La Roche, a major pharmaceutical company, is offering a free testing service because of its concern that one of its medicines -- Rohypnol (flunitrazepam) has been misused. Currently, the medicine is not legally available within the United States, but is available in 80 countries outside the United States for the treatment of severe sleeping disorders.

While many other drugs and alcohol are used to induce potential victims, rape crisis centers, law enforcement officials, and hospital emergency rooms involved in the investigation of sexual assault cases where drug misuse is suspected should call (800) 608-6540 to access this free testing service. The testing is performed by an independent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-certified forensic toxicology laboratory. According to NCASA, the urine sample is tested for amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, including flunitrazepam, cocaine, marijuana, and opiates. The results of the tests are returned directly to the rape crisis center, law enforcement official, or hospital emergency room and, most importantly, the identity of the victim is kept confidential. (Denise Snyder, "Drug Testing for Substance-Related Rape," NCASA News, April 1997, Volume 6, No. 1, p.16)

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