Rape and Sexual Assault

What is Rape/Sexual Assault?
Rape and sexual assault, long believed to be driven by sexual desire, are today known as crimes of violence. The legal system defines rape and sexual assault as intercourse without consent and chiefly by force; or, not against the person's will, where the victim is incapable of giving consent, because of the victim's temporary or permanent mental or physical incapacity, or because of the victim's youth.

Sexual assault is any unwanted sexual contact or attention resulting from force, threats, bribes, manipulation, pressure, or violence.

The Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice has released an in-depth report on rape in Utah: it is a sometimes shocking look at the problem from the view of real victims. Click here to read Rape In Utah: A Survey of Utah Women's Experience.

From 1960 until the early 1990s, the rate of rapes in Utah was markedly lower than that of the U.S. as a whole. (See graph below). In 1992, however, the Utah rate caught up with that of the nation and has been higher every year since.

Rape and Sexual Assault Statistics

• The Utah Office of the Guardian ad Litem reports that one in three girls and one in five boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18.
• It is estimated that only 16% of rapes are reported to law enforcement.
• In a 2005 study of sex offenders and their victims, it was found that in approximately 93% of the cases involving violent sex offenses, the victim and the perpetrator knew each other prior to the attack (Sexual Violence In Utah, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, 2005).
• Among adults nationwide, one in six women (17%) and one in thirty-three men (3%) reported experiencing an attempted or completed rape at some time in their lives (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
• A 2004 CDC survey found that 12.3% of Black students, 10.4% of Hispanic students, and 7.3% of White students said that they had been forced to have sexual intercourse (CDC 2004).
• According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, during 2004, more than 94,600 females nationwide were victims of forcible rape.
• Utah's rape rate in 2004 was 39.1 per 100,000 persons (Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice).

The 2006 National Violence Against Women Survey revealed that 17.7 million women and 2.8 million men in the United States were forcibly raped at some time in their lives. More than 300,000 women and nearly 93,000 men are raped annually.

Rape and sexual assault devastate families and destroy lives. Sexual violence impacts everyone--women, children and men of all ages, races, and socioeconomic status. Rape and sexual assault are acts that cause serious physical as well as mental and emotional injury among all people in every Utah community. Rape victims are at increased risk for substance abuse and 13 times more likely to attempt suicide. Thirty percent of victims experience major depression at some point in their life and the emotional consequences of sexual assault and rape are often manifested by sleeping and eating disorders, nervousness, anxiety, and/or an inability to accomplish daily tasks. Many of these symptoms have a considerable effect on health care costs and community resources.

Risk Factors
Sixty percent of reported rapes involve victims under the age of 18. The average age of onset for sexual victimization occurs between six and eight. According to the Salt Lake County Police Department, alcohol is a risk factor for sexual assault victims aged 16 years and older; it is involved in 85%-90% of all rapes. The incidence of drug-induced rapes has increased in Utah, especially among young adults. Common "date rape" drugs include: gamahydroxybutyrate (aka "GHB," "G" and "Grievous Bodily Harm"); Rohypnol (aka "Roofies,"); Ketamine (aka "K," "Vitamin K" and "Special K"); and Ecstasy (aka "X," "XTC," the "Hug Drug" and "Rollin").