§ 33.02 STATISTICS REGARDING RAPE

• Jurisdiction: United States

§ 33.02. Statistics Regarding Rape

Accurate figures on the commission of rape are almost impossible to find.²⁵ Indeed, the two primary national sources for all United States crime statistics — the Uniform Crime Report and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) — have shown "markedly different [rape] trends."²⁶ What is known is that rape is and has always been an underreported crime.²⁷

Complicating efforts to determine rape rates and trends is that the definition of "rape" for purposes of data collection by the Federal Bureau of Investigation has undergone substantial change. Prior to 2012, the FBI used Blackstone's definition of rape.²⁸ As such, it excluded nonforcible (but still nonconsensual) forms of rape, nonconsensual sexual intercourse within the marital relationship, nonconsensual sexual penetration other than intercourse, and same-sex sexual attacks.²⁹ As of 2012, "rape" data include all of these forms of sexual attack.

According to NCVS figures, which are based on random interviews rather than crimes reported to the police, about 270,000 females experienced rape, attempted rape, or other forms of unwanted sexual contact in 2010. Females under the age of 34, those living in lower-income homes, and women who lived in rural areas, suffered the highest rates of sexual victimization. Most sexual attacks occurred at or near the victim's home. Approximately 75% of the victims knew their offender. About 10% of the cases involved a weapon used by the perpetrator.³⁰ Based on 2009 data, persons characterized by the U.S. Department of Justice as "black" were three times more likely per capita to be victims of rape or sexual assault than "whites"; Hispanics and non-Hispanics were equally likely to be victims.³¹

According to a 2015 study conducted by the Association of American Universities of 150,000 students at 27 colleges, including all but one of the so-called Ivy League universities,³² more than 23.1 percent of female undergraduates, and five percent of male undergraduates, reported that they were victims of sexual assault or some other form of sexual misconduct due to physical force, threats of force, or incapacitation (i.e., while under the influence of an intoxicant, either voluntarily or involuntarily ingested).³³

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Notes:

^[25] . For discussion of some of the problems in this regard, see generally Helen M. Eigenberg, The National Crime Survey and Rape: The Case of the Missing Question, 7 Just. Q. 655 (1990); Corey Rayburn Yung, How to Lie with...