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Sexual Abuse Statistics And References

(Praesidium, Inc.) Many surveys have been conducted to determine the prevalence and incidence of rape and sexual assault. The differences in findings across these various surveys are related to how rape and sexual assault are defined, characteristics of the sample selected for the study, screening questions, interviewer training and techniques, and other methodological and procedural issues. However, in virtually every victimization survey conducted, the number of unreported rapes and sexual assaults far exceeds those that are reported to authorities.


SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

• 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually assaulted before the age of 18 (Handbook on the Sexual Abuse of Children, 1988).
• One in six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• 32% of females and 13% of males in a national random survey reported a history of sexual abuse involving physical contact (Elliott & Briere, Aspects of Child Maltreatment, 1995).
• An American is sexually assaulted every 2.5 minutes. An American is raped every 8 minutes (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• In the United States, a rape is reported about once every five minutes (FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2000).
• 44% of rape victims are under age 18; 15% are under age 12
    • The highest risk years are 12-34
         • 80% victims are under 30
         • 44% victims are under 18
         • 24% victims are 12-17
         • 15% victims are under 12 (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).

• Approximately 34% of sexual assaults reported to law enforcement agencies deals with juveniles under age 12 (National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 2004).
• One of seven (14%) victims of sexual abuse is under the age of 6 (Justice Department, 2005).
• For 60% of girls who are "sexually active" under the age of 14, their only sexual experience has been a rape (Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition of North Carolina, 1994).
• Young females are four times more likely to be the victims of sexual assault and the least likely to report their victimization (National Victimization Survey, 2004).
• Slightly more than half of all rape and sexual assault victims are women under age 25 (Perkins, 1997).
• Rate of sexual victimization is higher among youth as compared to adults (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001; Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000).
• Rates of sexual assault and verbal threat of rape/sexual assault were 2.0 and 3.3 times higher among youth between 12 and 17 than among young adults 18 to 24 (Hashima & Finkelor, 1999).
• Nearly 30% of youth reported that the assault occurred prior to age 11, 58% report that it occurred between 11 and 16 (Kilpatrick, 1996).
• Sexual assault charges 1991-1996:
    o 45% forcible fondling
    o 42% forcible rape
    o 8% forcible sodomy
    o 4% sexual assault with an object
• Sexual abuse makes up 10% of all child maltreatment (Child Maltreatment, 2003).

GENDER ISSUES

• Females are 6 times as likely as males to be victims of sexual assault. 86% of victims were female and that number increases as victim age increases (ie when talking about 19 year old victims, 95% of them are female) (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000).
• Males account for 25-35% of child sexual abuse victims. As they get older, that number diminishes. About 10% of sexual assault victims are men (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004; Finkelhor, 1994).
• 13.1% of adolescent women reported being sexually assaulted, as compared to 3.4% for adolescent men (Kilpatrick & Saunders, 1997).
• Among a sample of 10 to 16 year olds, 15.3% of women and 5.9% of men experienced some form of sexual victimization (Boney-McCoy & Finkelhor, 1995).
• Male survivors of child sexual abuse were twice as likely as non-survivors to be HIV positive – these men were NOT IV drug users (American Journal of Public Health, 1991).
• Over 26,000 adult men are raped daily in US jails and prisons and even more are abused in reform schools (Cahill, 1990).

INCREASED VICTIMIZATION FOR DISABLED

• Risk of abuse increases by 78% due to the vulnerability of people with developmental disabilities and their need for personal assistance services (Curry & Powers, 1999).
• People with developmental disabilities are victimized 4 to 10 times more frequently than people without disabilities (Sobsey, 1994).
• 71% of crimes against people with severe mental retardation go unreported (Wilson & Brewer, 1992).
• 65% of sexual assault cases reported to police were not prosecuted when the victim had a disability (Sobsey & Varnhaggen, 1991).
• Only 5% of serious crimes against people with disabilities were prosecuted compared to 70% for similar crimes against people without disabilities (Boston Globe, 2001).
• In Britain, police investigated only 21% of sexual assaults of people with intellectual disabilities and only 9% were referred by the police for prosecution. Less than 1% proceeded to court (Brown & Stein, 1997).
• Nearly 80% of women with developmental disabilities have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives (Sorenson, 2002).
• Rates of sexual assault are between 2 to 10 times higher for people with disabilities when compared to people without disabilities (Westat, Inc., 1993).
• People with disabilities are more likely to experience more severe abuse, experience abuse for a longer duration, be victims of multiple episodes, and be victims of a larger number of perpetrators (Schaller & Fieberg, 1998).
• Child victims who were reported with a disability were 51% more likely to experience recurrence than children without a disability (Child Maltreatment, 2003).

RESIDENTIAL ISSUES

• 80-85% of criminal abuse of residents in institutions never reach the proper authorities (Powers, Mooney, & Nunno, 1990).
• Children who'd been removed from their homes were 15% more likely to experience abuse and neglect again than children who remained with their families (Child Maltreatment, 2003).
• In 2003, there were at least 1,255 cases of abuse by residential facility staff across the nation (does not include all states). Of those cases, at least 11.5% were sexual abuse cases – that number may be higher if some of the 14.5% of multiple maltreatment cases involved sexual abuse (Child Maltreatment, 2003).

IS RAPE A RACIAL ISSUE?

• Among high school students, 2.3% of African American adolescent women reported rape, as compared to 1.8% of white women (Ackard & Neumark-Sztainer, 2002).
• Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance reveals that 9.6% of African American women report forced sex compared to 6.9% of white women (Grunbaum et al, 2002).
• An even more recent exploration of sexual victimization of African American women found that 32.1% of respondents had been raped, 33.7% had experienced sexual coercion, and 10.8% reported an attempted rape (Cecil & Mason, 2005). Only 23.4% had never been victimized.

THE PERPETRATORS: It's Not a Stranger Hiding

• About 2/3 of all 203,680 rapes of females were committed by someone who is known to the victim (67% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger – 47% of perpetrators were a friend or acquaintance of the victim, 17% were an intimate, and 3% were another relative). (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• In the Rape in America study, 80% of the girls and women who were raped were victimized by someone they knew (Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, National Victim Center, 1992).
• In a survey of individuals with disabilities who had been abused, 96% of the cases involved perpetrators who were known to their victim (Sobsey & Doe, 1991). The largest group of offenders (44%) were individuals who had a relationship with the victim specifically because of their disability (27.7% disability service providers, 5.4% specialized transportation, 4.3% specialized foster parents, and 6.5% other disabled individuals).
• 26% of perpetrators of abuse against the disabled were paid care givers providing services related to the victim's disability and 11% were other service providers (Mansell et al, 1992).
• 16% of forcible rape arrestees were juveniles (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• There is a 70% chance that a white rapist will rape a white victim and a black rapist will rape a black victim (Newsweek, 1990).
• 4 out of 10 sexual assaults take place at the victim's own home, 2 of 10 take place in a friend/neighbor/relative's home (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003).
• 43% of rapes occur between 6pm and midnight, although among adolescents there is a peak rape time of 3:00pm (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003)..
• Average age of rapists at arrest is 31 years old, 52% are white, 22% are married (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003).
• 98% of males who raped boys reported that they were heterosexual (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003).
• Only about 11% of rapes involve a weapon (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003).
• Factoring in unreported rapes, about 6% of rapists—1 out of 16— will ever spend a day in jail. 15 out of 16 will walk free (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003).
• 46% of rapists who were released from prison were rearrested within 3 years of their release for another crime -- 18.6% for a violent offense, 14.8% for a property offense, 11.2% for a drug offense and 20.5% for a public-order offense (National Crime Victimization Study, 2003).
• Women reported that men committed the abuse 94% of the time, but, men reported that the abusers were nearly equally divided among men and women, with women accounting for 40% of the perpetrations (Dube, 2005).
• Less than 3% (2.7%) of parents committed sexual abuse, however, 29.9% of other relatives, 26.8% of other professionals, 23.0% of daycare providers, and 11.5% of residential facility staff committed sexual abuse.
• More than 75% of perpetrators who were friends or neighbors committed sexual abuse (Child Maltreatment, 2003).

EFFECTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE ON ORGANIZATIONS

• 8% of rapes occur while victims were working or on duty
• Workplace violence cost companies $4.2 billion in lost work and legal expenses in 1992. A single episode of workplace violence can amount to $250,000 of lost work time and legal expenses (Infausta, 1994).

TRENDING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION?
• Sexual Assault is one of the most underreported crimes in the U.S. with MORE THAN HALF still being left unreported (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• 59% of the victims of completed rape whose victimizations were reported to the police were treated for their injuries compared to 17% of rape victims with unreported victimizations (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2002).
• Rape is called "the most underreported violent crime in America." In a large national survey of American women, only 16% of the rapes (approximately one out of every six) had ever been reported to the police (Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, National Victim Center, 1992).

• Sexual assault is down by 64% since 1994, yet there was an average of 204,370 sexual assaults in 2003-2004 (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• Since 2000, the overall number of sexual assaults dropped by 22%, while the percentage of sexual assaults that are reported to the police rose to an average of 42% in the last five years, compared to 31% in the prior four years (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).
• Rapes reported to police increased 0.8 percent, to 94,635, in 2004. Since 2000, FBI totals show rapes reported to police up nearly 5% (FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, 2005).
• Upward trend in the FBI statistics matches the trend of increased calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline. In September 2005, the national hotline helped 13,983 people, the highest demand since the hotline's inception in 1994, while thousands more victims called their local rape crisis centers directly. Average monthly calls to the national hotline have increased more than 87% since 2000 (National Crime Victimization Survey, 2004).

EXPLANATIONS FOR THE DECLINE
• Six Possible Explanations:
• Increasing Conservatism in Child Protective Services Agency (no longer counting 'questionable' cases)
• Exclusion of Cases that Do Not Involve a Caretaker as Perpetrator
• Changes in CPS Data Collection Methods or Definitions
• Less Reporting to CPS due to a Sexual Abuse Backlash
• A Diminishing Reservoir of Older Cases (i.e. we're 'all caught up')
• A Real Decline in the Incidence of Sexual Abuse
• "It is possible that the incidence of sexual abuse has declined as a result of two decades of prevention, treatment, and aggressive criminal justice activity. It is also possible that there has been no real decline, and the apparent decline is explained by a drop in the number of cases being identified and reported or by changes in practices of child protection agencies." Finkelhor and Jones (2004)
• If policies of more aggressive prosecution, incarceration, and treatment have played a role in the decline, what will be the impact when many of the large group of sexual abuse offenders placed in custody in recent years are released from their sentences?
• Have efforts to educate children and to identify and treat juvenile sex offenders had the effect of reducing the number of victims and perpetrators?

CONCLUSION: Multiple Sources
• The data from the Uniform Crime Report (FBI) and National Crime Victimization Survey(NCVS) provide tremendous information, but, they are limited. Both measures are almost certainly incorrect, in that there is general consensus that all measures of sexual assault in the United States underestimates the true extent of the crime. (Koss, 1992, 1996: Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). It is recommended that meaningful changes can only be found by analyzing multiple data sources and reports together and looking for long term trends. Hospital admissions and rape crisis center data should be included in that analysis.

EFFECTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE

• Victims of sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression, 6 times more likely to suffer from PTSD. They are also 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs, and 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide (World Health Organization, 2002).
• 40% greater risk of marrying an alcoholic (Dube, 2005).
• 40-50% more likely to report current problems in their marriage alcoholic (Dube, 2005).
• An estimated 5% of rapes results in pregnancy – that would be 4,315 pregnancies in 2002 alone.
• The effects of sexual abuse extend far beyond childhood occurrence. Sexual abuse robs children of their childhood and creates a loss of trust, feelings of guilt, and self-abusive behavior. It can lead to antisocial behavior, depression, identity confusion, loss of self-esteem, and other serious emotional problems. It can also lead to difficulty with intimate relationships later in life. The sexual victimization of children is ethically and morally wrong.

Children who have been sexually abused may develop:
• Anger
• Fear
• Homosexuality Issues
• Helplessness
• Isolation and Alienation
• Legitimacy
• Loss
• Masculinity Issues
• Negative Childhood Peer Relations
• Negative Schemas about People
• Negative Schemas about the Self
• Problems with Sexuality
• Self Blame/Guilt (Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989; Hunter, 1990)
• Shame/Humiliation
• Anxiety
• Depression or withdrawal from friends or family
• Dissociation
• Hostility and anger
• Impaired relationships
• Low self-esteem and negative self-image (Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989).
• Sexual dysfunction
• Sleep disturbance
• Suicidal ideas and behavior
• Unusual interest in or avoidance of all things of a sexual nature
• Sleep problems or nightmares
• Seductiveness
• Statements that their bodies are dirty or damaged, or fear that there is something wrong with them in the genital area
• Refusal to go to school
• Delinquency/conduct problems
• Secretiveness
• Aspects of sexual molestation in drawings, games, fantasies
• Unusual aggressiveness
• Problems with intimacy (Bruckner & Johnson, 1987; Dimock, 1988; Lew, 1988; Krug, 1989; Hunter, 1990)
• Sexual problems, compulsions, or dysfunctions (Bruckner & Johnson, 1987; Johnson & Shrier, 1987; Dimock, 1988; Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989; Hunter, 1990).
• Substance abuse and depression (Krug, 1989).
• Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Myers, 1989).
• Attempts to "prove" their masculinity by having multiple female sexual partners, sexually victimizing others, and/or engaging in dangerous or violent behaviors (Bruckner & Johnson, 1987; Lew 1988)
• Confusion over their gender and sexual identities (Nasjleti, 1980; Bruckner & Johnson, 1987; Johnson & Shrier, 1987; Dimock, 1988; Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989; Gilgun & Reiser, 1990)
• Sense of being inadequate as men (Dimock, 1988; Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989; Pierce & Pierce, 1985).
• Sense of lost power, control, and confidence in their manhood (Myers, 1989).
• Confusion about their own sexual orientation (Nasjleti, 1980; Dimock, 1988; Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989; Gilgun & Reiser, 1990).
• Fear that the sexual abuse has caused or will cause them to become homosexual (Nasjleti, 1980; Finkelhor, 1984; Dimock, 1988; Gilgun & Reiser, 1990; Lew, 1988; Myers, 1989).
• Homophobia, an irrational fear or intolerance of homosexuality (Gilgun & Reiser, 1990; Lew, 1988; Myers, 198).

WHO ABUSES? Characteristics of Abusers

HISTORY
• Abusers can be found in all socioeconomic levels, all age groups, and all racial groups
• Many batterers have police records
• Often, the abuser experienced physical or emotional abuse themselves as children
• Generational history of family of violence
• Having witnessed and abuse between parents as a child
• The presence of an alcoholic parent in the family of origin
• A background involving physical, emotional or sexual abuse
• Abandonment

PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS
• Most abusers tend to be lonely, unhappy, angry adults under tremendous stress
• Emotional dependency - subject to secret depressions known only to family
• Insatiable needs
• Low self-esteem - unachieved ideals and goals for self- disappointment in career
• Perception of self as having poor social skills - describes relationship with mate as closest ever known
• Bipolar disorder and / or Borderline Personality Disorder
• Low self-esteem, shame
• Codependent personality disorder and / or Love addiction
• Inability to respect interpersonal boundaries, a compulsion to violate boundaries
• Poor communication skills and accepts violence as a viable method of problem solving; the abuser sees it as an acceptable means of maintaining a family
• Unpredictable and confusing personality

BEHAVIORS/ COGNITIONS
• Poor impulse control - explosive temper - limited tolerance for frustration
• Limited capacity for delayed gratification - very "now" oriented
• Exhibits this behavior by being very arrogant and cocky
• Potential for change and improvement, i.e., frequent "promises" for the future
• Jealous. Voices great fear of being abandoned or "cheated on"
• Isolation of mate
• Lacks awareness of others' personal boundaries
• Belief that forcible behavior is necessary for the good of the family
• Demanding, aggressive, and even assaultive in sexual situations
• Insensitive to partners sexual needs or desires
• Increase in abusive behavior when she is pregnant
• Chooses type of abuse that most effectively pushes the victim's 'buttons'
• Blames everyone else for abuse. Accepts no blame for failures or for violence
• Uncontrolled temper
• Intense fear of abandonment
• Unrealistic expectations of a relationship. (To "fix" them or solve their problems)
• Isolation and antisocial temperament
• Recklessness (dangerous sexual behavior, reckless driving, drug use etc.)
• Inability to accept responsibility for their behavior and actions, even in the face of dire consequences
• Cruelty to children / animals.
• Threats of violence
• Drug or Alcohol Dependence, self medication
• Emotional volatility - fear of being "out of control"
• Need for power and control to compensate for the above
• Can employ some of the following weapons besides fists and feet: guns, knives, a broom, a belt, a brush, a pillow (to smother), a hot iron, lighted cigarettes
• Males tend to be traditionalists, believing in male supremacy in the family
• Can inflict invisible injuries, mostly to the head and the body. Many abusers can cause injury to the abdominal area during his partner's pregnancy.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
• Usually isolated, incapable of using a support system
• Mothers are more likely to physically/emotionally abuse than fathers
• Fathers are more likely to sexually abuse than mothers
• Violence in previous relationships
• Abuse generally escalates when the partner leaves
• They are most often loved ones or persons in positions of trust. They are often the victim's sole or primary care provider
• May resent being responsible for the well being of the person or retaliating against the older relative for past mistreatment
• May be forced to provide care, and are unprepared for the responsibility and related stress
• 90% of abusers are known to the victim, more than two-thirds are relatives of the victim


EMPLOYMENT
• Found in all socio-economic, educational, racial, and age groups
• He has a high level of job dissatisfaction, underemployment, or unemployment that leads to feelings of inadequacy and inability to provide for family according to societal stereotypes

List of References

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Bancroft, J. (1989) Human sexuality and its problems. London: Churchill Livingstone.

Berlinger, L. & Barbieri, M. K. (1984). The testimony of the child victim of sexual assault. Journal of Social Issues, 40, (2), 125-137.

Boyle, P. (1994). Scout's Honor: Sexual abuse in America's most trusted institution. Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.

Briere, J. & Runtz, M. (1989). University Males' Sexual Interest in Children: Predicting Potential Indices of 'Pedophilia' in a Non-forensic Sample," Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol.13, 65.

Cagney, M. (1997). Sexual Abuse in Churches Not Limited to Clergy. Christianity Today, Vol. 41(11), 90.

Cardinal's Commission on Clerical Sexual Misconduct with Minors: Report to Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, Archbishop of Chicago, 1992.

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