Statistics

Gathered from a variety of sources, including the U.S. Department of Justice, RAINN, CalCASA, Monterey County Rape Crisis Center and others. Although numbers and percentages will vary – being difficult to pin down - they reveal how extensive the problem of sexual abuse is in our society.

Every 1.3 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted

• In 2006, there were 272,350 victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault. (These figures do not include victims 12 years old or younger.)
• Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with 60% still being left unreported.
• Males are the least likely to report a sexual assault, though they make up about 10% of all victims.
• One in six boys are sexually assaulted by the age of 16.
• 60% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police. Factoring in these unreported rapes, only about 6% of rapists ever serve a day in jail.

 

93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker:

• 34.2% of attackers were family members
• 58.7% were acquaintances
• 7% of the perpetrators were strangers to the victim.

 

Victims of sexual assault are:

• 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
• 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
• 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
• 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.

 

Around the world:

• At least 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Most often the abuser is someone known to the victim.

 

Perpetrators

• 82% of the suspected perpetrators of child sexual abuse in a study sample were at the time of the offense, or had been at some time, involved in a heterosexual relationship with a close relative of the child they victimized.
• The typical child sex offender molests an average of 117 children, most of whom do not report the offense.

 

Sexual Assault and Young People

• Between 33-66% of known sexual assault victims are age 15 or younger.
• Of the 22.3 million adolescents in the U.S. today, 1.8 million have been victims of serious sexual assault.
• Juvenile victims (77%) of sexual assault were more likely than adults (55%) to be victimized in their residence. Older juveniles (12-17 years of age) were more likely to be victims in locations such as: roadways, field/woods, schools, hotels/motels.
• Children who grow up in a family where there is domestic violence are eight times more likely to be sexually molested within that family.