"In the United States, a rape is reported about Once every Five minutes."
- FBI Crime Report, 1997

• RAINN Provided Statistics
• Washington Post
• Department of Justice
• Rape in America
• National Crime Victimization Survey

Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network
www.rainn.org

• Every two and a half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
• One in six American women , and one in 33 men.
• 1 out of every 8 college women will be raped
• In 2004-2005, there were an average annual 200,780 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault.
• About 44% of rape victims are under age 18, and 80% are under age 30.
• Since 1993, rape/sexual assault has fallen by over 69%

Rapes Still Not Being Reported
The National Crime Victimization Survey includes statistics on reported and unreported crimes in America. Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with more than half still being left unreported. Utilizing services such as The National Sexual Assault Hotline can help encourage victims to get help and report what has happened to them so that more perpetrators can be brought to justice.

Males are the least likely to report a sexual assault, though it is estimated they make up 10% of all victims. Young females are four times more likely than any other group to be a victim of sexual assault.

Is the incidence of rape and sexual assault increasing or decreasing in America?
Have you heard about crime declining? It is true (as best we can tell). While figures for any single year are considered somewhat unreliable because they are based on a small sample size, the more-reliable long-term trend looks extremely good. Since 1993, rape/sexual assault has fallen by more than half.

Not limited to Strangers
Contrary to the belief that rapists are hiding in the bushes or in the shadows of the parking garage, almost two-thirds of all rapes were committed by someone who is known to the victim. 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger — 38% of perpetrators were a friend or acquaintance of the victim, 28% were an intimate and 7% were another relative.
National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005

Women

• One out of every six American women have been the victims of an
  attempted or completed rape in their lifetime (14.8% completed rape;
  2.8% attempted rape). This is according to the Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey (PDF, 305KB), National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998.
• A total of 17.7 million women have been victims of these crimes.
• In 2003, nine out of every ten rape victims were female according to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Survey (PDF, 623KB).
• While about 80% of all victims are white, minorities are somewhat more likely to be attacked:

Men

• About three percent of American men — a total of 2.78 million men — have experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime according to the 1998 Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women study.
• In 2003, one in every ten rape victims were male, according to the 2003 National Crime Victimization Study (PDF, 623KB).

Children

• 15% of victims are under age 12
• 29% are age 12-17
• 44% are under age 18
• 80% are under age 30

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90 percent of the college students, surveyed by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics who said they were the victims of violent crime, reported that the crimes occurred off campus.

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In a study conducted by the Department of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers interviewed 8,000 women and 8,000 men. The survey found that 1 in 6 women had experienced an attempted rape or a completed rape.

At the time they were raped: 22% were under the age of 12, 54% under 18, 83% under 25

Acquaintance rape is much more prevalent than stranger rape. In a study published by the Department of Justice, 82% of the victims were raped by someone they knew (acquaintance, friend or relative) and 18% were raped by a stranger.

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In the Rape in America study, 60% of the women who reported being raped were under 18 years old.

• 29.3% were less than 11 years old
• 32.3% were between 11 and 17
• 22.2% were between 18 and 24
• 7.1% were between 25 and 29
• 6.1% were older than 29
• 3.0% age was not available
• 80% of the girls and women who were raped were victimized by someone they knew.
• "Rape is called 'the most underreported violent crime in America.'  In a large national survey of American women, only 16% of the rapes (approximately 1 out of every 6) had ever been reported to the police."

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The National Crime Victimization Survey, complied by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, reports that 93 percent of crimes against students occurred off campus. 

Why are students are greater risk off-campus?
The same report indicates these characteristics of violent victimizations of college students:

• 58% were committed by strangers

• 41% of offenders were perceived to be using alcohol or drugs

• 93% of crimes occurred off-campus, of which 72% occurred at night

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