Facts & Stats

Sexual assault happens every day to many people no matter how old they are, if they are rich or poor, male or female. Here are some statistics you should know.

General

• Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
• In Rhode Island, it is estimated that one in eight women have been sexually assaulted during their lifetime.
• About 44% of rape victims are under age 18, and 80% are under age 30.
• More than 59% of all sexual assaults go unreported to police.
• Almost 9% of Rhode Island’s high school students reported that they had experienced sexual violence by someone they were dating or going out with in the last 12 months.  (YRBS, 2013)
• 1 in 5 women experience an attempted or completed rape while in college.
• Among adults, 73% of sexual assaults were perpetrated by a non-stranger. Among college women, that number rises to 80%.
• About 25% of women in the military have been sexually assaulted during their careers.
• People who identify as LGBQ/T experience sexual and domestic violence at the same or higher rates than those who identify heterosexual. (NISVS 2010)

Children

• One of every seven victims (or 14% of all victims) of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies was under age 6. One in three victims of sexual assault is under age 12.
• One in every four girls and one in every six boys will be a victim of sexual abuse before age 18.
• In more than 90% of child abuse cases, the victim knows his or her abuser. Almost half the time, it’s a family member.

People with Disabilities

• Among people with developmental disabilities, as many as 83% of females and 32% of males are victims of sexual assault.
• Each year, 15,000 to 19,000 people with developmental disabilities are raped in the United States.

Sex Trafficking

• For the most accurate numbers on sex trafficking in the United States, visit the Polaris Project. 
• For data regarding child sex trafficking in Rhode Island, please check back as our statewide task force develops new protocols for compiling this information in our state.

Sources:

• 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
• Ruggiero, K. J., & Kilpatrick, D.G. (2003). Rape in Rhode Island: A Report to the State. Charleston, SC: National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, Medical University of South Carolina.
• 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
• Snyder, Howard, Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics . U.S. Department of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. July 2000.
• 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
• Snyder, H. and Sickmund, M., 1999. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Center for Juvenile Justice.
• Snyder, H. and Sickmund, M., 1999. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Center for Juvenile Justice.
• Johnson, I., Sigler, Ri. 2000. "Forced Sexual Intercourse Among Intimates," Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 15 (1)
• Sobsey, D. 1994. "Violence and abuse in the Lives of People with Disabilities: The End of Silent Acceptance?"
• 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
• Snyder, H. and Sickmund, M., 1999. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Center for Juvenile Justice.
• Fisher, Bonnie, Cullen, Francis, Turner, Michael. (2000). The Sexual Victimization of College Women.Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice.
• RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network). (n.d.). Statistics United States. Retrieved July 17, 2014, from https://rainn.org/statistics
• United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. (2014). Not Alone:  The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault. Retrieved from https://www.notalone.gov/assets/report.pdf
• Finkelhor, David, Hotaling, G., Lweis, I., Smith, C. “Sexual Abuse in a National Survey of Adult Men and Women: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Risk Factors.” Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 14, pp. 19-28, 1990.+
• Laura Kann, PhD,1 Steve Kinchen,1 Shari L. Shanklin, MPH,1 et al., Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance MMWR 2014; 63(No. SS-#4): 10-11