Statistics About Sexual Assault
- 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed, 2.8% attempted)
- About 3% of American men—or 1 in 33—have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime
- From 2009-2013, Child Protective Services agencies substantiated, or found strong evidence to indicate that, 63,000 children a year were victims of sexual abuse
- The majority of rapes occur near a victim’s home.
- Most rapes (7 out of 10) are committed by someone the victim knows
- 45% committed by an acquaintance and 25% committed by a current or former intimate partner
- 57% of perpetrators are white
- Only 11% of perpetrators use a gun, knife, or other weapon. Most commonly they use their body weight and threats
- 4% lesbians, 74.9% bisexual women and 43.3% heterosexual women reported sexual violence other than rape during their lifetimes, while 40.2% gay men, 47.4% bisexual men and 20.8% heterosexual men reported sexual violence other than rape during their lifetimes
- 91% of the victims of rape and sexual assault are female, and 9% are male
College Sexual Assault
- Among undergraduate students, 23.1% of females and 5.4% of males experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation
- 21% of TGQN (transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming) college students have been sexually assaulted, compared to 18% of non-TGQN females, and 4% of non-TGQN males
- Only 20% of female student victims, age 18-24, report to law enforcement
- The most commonly cited reason for not reporting is a belief that it was not serious enough
- August, September, October, and November are when the majority of college sexual assaults occur on campus
- The prevalence of false reporting is between 2% and 10%
Sources: www.rainn.org and www.nsvrc.org
Abuse via the Internet
- Approximately 1 in 7 (13%) youth internet users received unwanted sexual solicitations.
- 9% of youth Internet users had been exposed to distressing sexual material while online.
- Predators seek youths vulnerable to seduction, including those with histories of sexual or physical abuse, those who post sexually provocative photos/videos online, and those who talk about sex with unknown people online.
- 1 in 25 youths received an online sexual solicitation in which the solicitor tried to make offline contact.
- In more than one-quarter (27%) of incidents, solicitors asked youths for sexual photographs of themselves.
- The most common first encounter of a predator with an Internet-initiated sex crimes victim took place in an online chat room (76%).
- In nearly half (47%) of the cases involving an Internet-initiated sex crimes victim, the predator offered gifts or money during the relationship-building phase.
- Internet-based predators used less deception to befriend their online victims than experts had thought.
- Only 5% of the predators told their victims that they were in the same age group as the victims. Most offenders told the victims that they were older males seeking sexual relations.
- 15% of cell-owning teens (12–17) say they have received sexually suggestive nude/semi-nude images of someone they know via text.
- Of respondents to a survey of juvenile victims of Internet-initiated sex crimes, the majority met the predator willingly face-to-face and 93% of those encounters had included sexual contact.
- 72% of teenagers and young adults believe that digital abuse is something that should be addressed by society.
- 11% of teenagers and young adults say they have shared naked pictures of themselves online or via text message. Of those, 26% do not think the person whom they sent the naked pictures to shared them with anyone else.
- 26% of teenagers and young adults say they have participated in sexting (12 different forms of sexting were examined), a 6% decline since 2011.
- Nearly 40% of young people in a relationship have experienced at least one form of abuse via technology. A large majority (81%) say they rarely or never feel their significant other uses technology to keep tabs on them too often.
Sources: www.rainn.org; www.rainn.org/statistics; www.nsvrc.org; www.nsopw.gov