Statistics

• 88.5% of victims were related to or otherwise known to the offender - 48.7% were acquaintances and 13.5% were children related to the offenders.
• Most (66.5%) sex offenses were reported to have occurred at a residence or home.
• Personal weapons, such as the offender's hands or fists, were used during sex offenses more than other weapons.
• 65% of victims were juveniles under the age of 18. The most frequently reported age was 14.
• The majority of the offenders were males (94%) and adult (84.2%).

* (Based on sexual assaults reported to law enforcement in 2000 - WV State Police Incident Based Reporting System.)

• Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes.
• 1 of 6 US women and 1 of 3 US men have been victims of a completed or attempted rape.
• An estimated 302,091 women and 92,748 men are forcibly raped each year in the US.
• In sexual assaults of adults, the offender was a stranger in 25% of incidents, a family member in 12% of incidents, an acquaintance in 63% of incidents.
• 1/3 of all sexual assaults reported to law enforcement agencies involved a victim under the age of 12. 42% are age 6 and under, and 34% are between the ages of 7-11.
• Federal statistics show a similarity in the characteristics of those categorized as rapists: 99 in 100 are male, 6 in 10 are white, and the average age is the early thirties.
• 1 in every 4 rapes takes place in a public area or in a parking garage.
• 68% of rapes occur between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm.
• In 29% of rapes, the offender used a weapon.
• In 47% of rapes, the victim sustained injuries other than rape injuries.
• 75% of female rape victims require medical care after an attack.
• Less than 5% of college women report incidences of rape to the police.
• 75% of male students and 55% of female students involved in date rape had been drinking or using drugs.
• More than half of raped college women tell no one of their victimization.
• U.S. Government statistics estimate 26% - 37% of all rapes are reported to police.

* (National Violence Against Women Survey; Office of Juvenile Justice; Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1995 - 2000.)