Sexual Assault Resource Center

Statistics

  • One in Four college women report surviving rape (15%) or attempted rape (12%) since their fourteenth birthday.
  • Only 27% of the women whose sexual assault met the legal definition of rape thought of themselves as rape victims.
  • 42% of rape victims told no one about the assault, and only 5% reported to the police.
  • Studies show that 10-20% of all males are sexually violated at some point in their lives.
  • Women aged 16 to 24 experience the highest per capita rate of intimate partner violence.
  • 75% of male students and 55% of female students involved in date rape and been drinking or using drugs.
  • Almost one third of all rape victims develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sometime during their lives and 11% of rape victims currently suffer from the disorder.
  • Persons with disabilities are 1.5 to 5 times more likely to become victims of sexual abuse and assault.
  • 35% of men report at least some degree of likelihood of raping if they could be assured they wouldn't be caught or punished.
  • Sexual assault offenders were substantially more likely than any other category of violent criminal to report experiencing physical or sexual abuse as children.
  • Sexual violence starts very early in life. More than half of all rapes of women (54%) occur before age 18; 22% of these rapes occur before age 12. For men, 75% of all rapes occur before age 18, and 48% occur before age 12.
  • Of people who report sexual violence, 64% of women and 16% of men were raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by an intimate partner. This includes a current or former spouse, cohabitating partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, or date.
  • Rape is called the most underreported violent crime in America.
  • Forty-two percent of women in one study said they had been victims of sexual coercion while dating in college. Of those women, 70 percent did not seek help.
  • Women are more likely to report sexual assault if their assailant is a stranger than if the assailant is an acquaintance, and they are more likely to report completed rape than attempted rape.

Sources

  • Warshaw, R. (1994). I never called it rape. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
  • Virginia Department of Health brochure: Sexual Violence, A Men’s Issue; Developed by The Men’s Rape Prevention Project in Washington, DC.
  • Fisher, S., Cullen, F., Turner, M., 2000. The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.
  • http://www.vadv.org/secPublications/SV%20Report%202004.pdf Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance and Virginia Department of Health Center for Injury and Violence Prevention; 2004 Virginia Report.
  • U.S. Department of Justice, Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes Committed by Current and Former Spouses, Boyfriends & Girlfriends. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997.
  • Koss, K.P., 1998. “Hidden Rape: Incident, Prevalence and Descriptive Characteristics of Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National Sample of College Students.” Rape and Sexual Assault, vol. II (ed.) A.W. Burgess. New York: Garland Publishing Co.
  • Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, 1998. N., Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. National Institute of Justice.
  • Sobsey, D. 1992. The National Center on Child Sexual Abuse, The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.
  • Malamuth, N. M. (1981). Rape proclivity among males. Journal of Social Issues, 37, 138-157. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Rape fact sheet. Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  • Greenfeld, L.A. (1997). Sex offenses and offenders: An analysis of data on rape and sexual assault, Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
  • Mohler-Kuo M, Dowdall GW, Koss MP, Wechsler H.Correlates of rape while intoxicated in a national sample of college women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 2004;65(1):37-45.
  • Kilpatrick, DG, Edmunds, CN, & Seymour, AK. Rape in America: A Report to the Nation. Arlington, VA: National Victim Center. 1992.
  • American College Health Association, “Is Dating Dangerous.” American College Health Association, 1997.