The research literature indicates that women are more likely to report their victimization when they have actively resisted the attack, when the assailant has physically injured them, or when the assailant used a weapon or forced them to participate in particularly depraved acts. These factors may help women to define what happened to them as an assault. Much literature discusses sexual assault victims' experiences with the police who handled their cases when they chose to report.
While several studies show that victims' experiences with police have improved in recent years, negative interactions continue to occur. Studies of police interviews with sexual assault victims have found fault with officers who question victims about their clothing, alcohol or drug use, resistance level, prior sexual encounters, and sexual responses to the assault. Fight back? Tell anyone? Perceptions about what constitutes "real rape" affect how police, prosecutors, judges, juries, and the general public view the problem of sexual assault.
Common distortions include the following:. In addition, the regrettable problem of false reporting may also affect how police view alleged victims. Some victims may be unsure of the details, confused as a result of their use of drugs or alcohol, or lying about some aspect of the experience, but may be truthful about the general fact they were assaulted.
While most police have experienced an alleged victim who falsely reports a sexual assault, the professional literature on the topic is very sparse. Many researchers fear addressing the topic because it is politically risky to do so. Researchers have more widely examined the motives for false reporting. They have found that a need for attention from friends or significant others, a desire to access medical treatment for sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy, or an attempt to explain an inappropriate absence to a significant other or parent has motivated women to falsely report sexual assaults.
Distortions about what constitutes "real rape" and the problem of false reports of sexual assault make it difficult for some communities to acknowledge the true extent of their sexual assault problem. Not only can they lead to biases in how police and prosecutors handle reports of sexual assault, but also false reports add imprecise data to measures of the prevalence of sexual assault.
In varying degrees, victims experience emotional, physical, social, and sexual problems as a result of being sexually assaulted. Some women suffer severe injuries, contract sexually transmitted diseases, or get pregnant.
Understanding the factors that contribute to your problem will help you frame your own local analysis questions, determine good effectiveness measures, recognize key intervention points, and select appropriate responses. Because so many sexual assaults go unreported to police, data on offender and victim characteristics and locations and times when sexual assaults by strangers occur are very limited and may be misleading.
You will need additional information from local victimization studies, rape crisis centers, and hospitals to fully understand your problem. The sexual assault analysis triangle below may help to frame the important factors contributing to the problem. Rather than being determined by a single factor, sexual assault may result when 1 a motivated offender and 2 a vulnerable victim cross paths in 3 a location without capable guardians. Depending on the nature of your local sexual assault problem, each triangle side's relative importance will vary.
You may be able to reduce sexual assault by addressing one triangle side e. See the Problem-Oriented Policing Center website, www. How offenders plan or commit sexual assaults highlights situational characteristics that can inform prevention efforts. Transactions during sexual assaults are usually unstable given that the offender must maintain control over the victim and manage situational variables to continue the assault. Researchers developed the specific phases of sexual assaults discussed below through interviews with incarcerated rapists who were strangers to their victims.
First, most sexual offenders have a series of preexisting life problems and tensions and have trouble coping with everyday life. These personally troubling events generally become particularly severe immediately before the assault. A specific event may increase the perpetrator's sense of futility and anger and may heighten his motivation to offend. This motivation then transforms into action. The offender may be determined to rape someone from the outset or may decide to assault a woman encountered some other way e.
Some offenders choose victims simply because they are there, while others choose victims because they have specific characteristics that are meaningful to the offender.
Some offenders initiate the attack impulsively, while others ensure the surroundings are appropriate and then wait for a suitable victim to emerge. Once the offender targets a victim, he engages her, either verbally or physically, to gain control.
The sudden, unexpected confrontation gives the victim little opportunity to decide whether and how to resist. Children who dress like adults and act in a provocative way are asking to be sexually abused. A child, by law, is unable consent to any sexual activity with another person no matter how they dress or act. No child asks or deserves to be sexually abused. Some children let the abuse go on for a long time because they like it.
A child may not tell anyone about the abuse for many reasons. This may be because the abuser threatened them, or they may feel ashamed or they may feel guilty.
Sometimes they do not tell in order to keep the family together. Sexual abuse of a child or young person occurs within a loving relationship. People who love children do not have sex with them. Child sexual abusers use threats, intimidation and manipulation to stop children from telling anyone about the abuse. This can have long-standing and harmful physical and emotional effects. That is not love. Rohypnol is used to spike drinks. Most sexual assaults involving a drink spike involve additional alcohol and not drugs.
No means no! If you buy someone dinner then it is okay to expect that person to have sex with you. Buying something for someone does not entitle you to have sex with them. Men who are sexually assaulted are or will become homosexual. Sexual orientation is not affected or influenced by sexual assault. Both homosexual and heterosexual men can be assaulted.
Children who are sexually abused become abusers. The majority of children who have been sexually abused do not grow up to be abusers. Forcing any woman to have sex or perform sexual acts when she does not want to is sexual assault. Where to get help Sexual Assault Resource Centre SARC 24 hour emergency line for recent sexual assault — phone 08 or free from land line only Emergency telephone counselling between 8.
Acknowledgements Sexual Assault Resource Centre. Sexual Violence Affects Millions of Americans. Read more statistics about about child sexual abuse. Read more statistics about campus sexual violence. The likelihood that a person suffers suicidal or depressive thoughts increases after sexual violence. People who have been sexually assaulted are more likely to use drugs than the general public. An estimated 80, inmates each year experience sexual violence while in prison or jail. DoD estimates about 20, service members experienced sexual assault that year.
Sexual violence is notoriously difficult to measure, and there is no single source of data that provides a complete picture of the crime. Based on those interviews, the study provides estimates of the total number of crimes, including those that were not reported to police.
While NCVS has a number of limitations most importantly, children under age 12 are not included , overall, it is the most reliable source of crime statistics in the U. We have also relied on other Justice Department studies, as well as data from the Department of Health and Human Services and other government and academic sources.
When assembling these statistics, we have generally retained the wording used by the authors. Statistics are presented for educational purposes only. Each statistic includes a footnote citation for the original source, where you can find information about the methodology and a definition of terms. Skip to main content.
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