Sexual Assault in the United States
- One in five women and one in 71 men will be raped at some point in their lives (a)
- In the U.S., one in three women and one in six men experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime (o)
- 51.1% of female victims of rape reported being raped by an intimate partner and 40.8% by an acquaintance (a)
- 52.4% of male victims report being raped by an acquaintance and 15.1% by a stranger (a)
- Almost half (49.5%) of multiracial women and over 45% of American Indian/Alaska Native women were subjected to some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime (o)
- 91% of victims of rape and sexual assault are female, and nine percent are male (m)
- In eight out of 10 cases of rape, the victim knew the perpetrator (j)
- Eight percent of rapes occur while the victim is at work (c)
Cost & Impact of Sexual Assault
- The lifetime cost of rape per victim is $122,461 (n)
- Annually, rape costs the U.S. more than any other crime ($127 billion), followed by assault ($93 billion), murder ($71 billion), and drunk driving, including fatalities ($61 billion) (j)
- 81% of women and 35% of men report significant short- or long-term impacts such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (a)
- Health care is 16% higher for women who were sexually abused as children and 36% higher for women who were physically and sexually abused as children (k)
Child Sexual Abuse
- One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old (d)
- 30% of women were between the ages of 11 and 17 at the time of their first completed rape (a)
- 12.3% of women were age 10 or younger at the time of their first completed rape victimization (a)
- 27.8% of men were age 10 or younger at the time of their first completed rape victimization (a)
- More than one third of women who report being raped before age 18 also experience rape as an adult (a)
- 96% of people who sexually abuse children are male, and 76.8% of people who sexually abuse children are adults (l)
- 34% of people who sexually abuse a child are family members of the child (l)
- It is estimated that 325,000 children per year are currently at risk of becoming victims of commercial child sexual exploitation (k)
- The average age at which girls first become victims of prostitution is 12-14 years old, and the average age at which boys first become victims of prostitution is 11-13 years old (k)
- Only 12% of child sexual abuse is ever reported to the authorities (f)
Campus Sexual Assault
- 20% – 25% of college women and 15% of college men are victims of forced sex during their time in college (b)
- A 2002 study revealed that 63.3% of men at one university who self-reported acts qualifying as rape or attempted rape admitted to committing repeat rapes (h)
- More than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault (b)
- 27% of college women have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact (e)
- Nearly two thirds of college students experience sexual harassment (p)
Crime Reports
- Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police (m)
- The prevalence of false reporting is low — between 2% and 10%. For example, a study of eight U.S. communities, which included 2,059 cases of sexual assault, found a 7.1% rate of false reports (i). A study of 136 sexual assault cases in Boston found a 5.9% rate of false reports (h). Researchers studied 812 reports of sexual assault from 2000-2003 and found a 2.1% rate of false reports (g).