RAPE STATISTICS

The following are statistics about rape compiled by Rape Prevention Education. This list is also available as a PDF on the Flyers and Brochures page.


Rape Affects Everyone

• Around the world at least 1 in 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family. (John Hopkins School of Public Health 2000)
• 77% of rapes are committed by someone known to the person raped. (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1997)
• According to the National Victim Center, 683,000 women are raped each year. (1992)
• Only 2% of rapists are convicted and imprisoned. (US Senate Judiciary Committee 1993)
• 6 out of 10 rapes are reported by victims to have occurred in their own home or home of a friend, relative or neighbor. (US Dept. of Justice 1997)

Rape and Ethnicity

• Women of all ethnicities are raped: American Indian/Alaska Native women are most likely to report a rape and Asian/Pacific Islander women the least likely. (National Institute of Justice 1998)
• Reported rape victimization by race is: 34% of American Indian/Alaska Native; 24% women of mixed raceWomen with disabilities are raped and abused at twice the rate of the general population. (Sobsey 1994); 19% of African American women; 18% of white women; 8% of Asian/Pacific Islander women. (Tjaden and Thoennes, National Institute of Justice 1998)
• 80-90% of rapes against women (except for American Indian women) are committed by someone of the same racial background as the victim. (US Dept. of Justice 1994)
• American Indian victims of rape reported the offender as either white or black in 90% of reports. (Department of Justice 1997)

At High Risk

• In a 1999 longitudinal study of 3,000 women, researchers found women who had been victimized before were seven times more likely to be raped again. (Acierno, Resnick, Kilpatrick, Saunders and Best, Jnl. of Anxiety Disorders 13, 6.)
• Women with disabilities are raped and abused at twice the rate of the general population. (Sobsey 1994)
• Women reporting a combined childhood history of physical and sexual abuse report the highest rape rates. (Merrill, Newell, Gold and Millen, Naval Health Research Center 1997)

Rape and Gender

• An estimated 91% of victims of rape are female, 9% are male and 99% of offenders are male. (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1999)
• 93% of women and 86% of men who were raped and/or physically assaulted since the age of 18 were assaulted by a male. (National Violence Against Women Survey, 1998)
• Sexual assault is reported by 33-46% of women who are being physically assaulted by their husbands. (AMA 1995)

Rape and Age

• Among female rape victims, 61% are under age 18. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 1995)
• 22% of females raped are under the age of 12 years; 32% are 12-17 years old; 29% 18-24 years old; 17% over 25 years old. 83% of those raped are under the age of 25 years old. (National Institute of Justice 1998)
• Rape victims range in age from 4 months to 94 years. (National Institute of Justice 1998)

Same Gender/Transgender

• According to the First National Survey of Transgender Violence, 13.7% of 402 transgeneder persons reported being a victim of rape or attempted rape. (Gender PAC 1997)
• A 1991 study of college gay, lesbian and bisexual students found that 18% had been victims of rape and 12% victims of attempted rape. (Jnl. Of College Student Development)
• 15% of men who lived with a man as a couple reported being raped/assaulted or stalked by a male cohabitant. (1999 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Rape in College

• In a study of 6,000 students at 32 colleges in the US, 1 in 4 women had been the victims of rape or attempted rape. (Warshaw, Robin 1994 "I Never Called It Rape")
• 42% of rape victims told no one and only 5% reported it to the police. (Warshaw 1994)
• Of the nearly 3000 male students surveyed, 1 in 12 male students surveyed had committed acts that met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape. (Warshaw 1994)
• Of these college males who committed rape (as legally defined), 84% said what they did was definitely not rape. (Warshaw 1994)
• In another study, 13% of college women indicated they had been forced to have sex in a dating situation. (Johnson and Sigler, Jnl. of Interpersonal Violence, 2000)
• A study of 477 male students, mostly 1st and 2nd year students, found 56% reported instances of non-assaultive coercion to obtain sex. Examples included: threatening to end a relationship; falsely professing love; telling lies to render her more sexually receptive. (Boeringer 1996, Violence Against Women:5)
• Of the 22 substances used in drug facilitated rape, alcohol is the most common finding in investigations. (Jnl. of Forensic Sciences 1999)

Rape at UCSC

• An average of 2 rapes per year are reported to the campus police. Stranger rapes are rare. In the past ten years at UCSC, all rapes reported to have been non-stranger rapes, except for one. (UCSC Police Statistics 2003)
• Reported rapes are a fraction of rapes that are committed. According to research from the National Institute of Justice, there are an estimated 35 rapes per 1,000 female college students per year. Based on our current enrollment, this extrapolates to a possible 320 rapes each year at UCSC. (February 2009)