Project Safe | Statistics

Did you know?

In a telephone survey of 8,000 women and 8,000 men conducted in 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Justice found that:

Approximately 302,100 women are forcibly raped each year in the United States.

1 of 6 U.S. women has experienced a rape or attempted rape.

76% of the women who were raped or physically assaulted were assaulted by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, or date. Drawing on more than two dozen statistical datasets maintained by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Uniform Crime Reporting program of the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice found that:

Victims of rape and sexual assault report that in nearly 3 out of 4 incidents, the offender was somebody they knew.

Two-thirds of the victims 18 to 29 years old had a prior relationship with the rapist.
An estimated 91% of the victims of rape and sexual assault were female.
Less than 5% of college women report incidences of rape to the police. [Koss, Woodruff, and Koss, 1990]

Every 18 seconds a woman is battered somewhere in America. [U.S. Department of Justice]

Women aged 19-29 reported more violence by intimates than any other age group. [Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, August, 1995]

While same-sex battering mirrors heterosexual battering both in type and prevalence, its victims receive fewer protections. [Barnes, 1998]

Women of all races are equally vulnerable to attacks by intimates. [U.S. Department of Justice, 1994.]

1 out of 7 women currently attending college has been raped. (Koss, Woodruff, and Koss, 1990. Statistics on Sexual Violence Against Women: A Criminological Study.)

All of the following information obtained from the National Violence Against Women Survey:

1,376,000 men and women are stalked annually in the United States
Women are the primary victims of stalking - 78%
Men are the primary perpetrators - 87%
The majority of stalkers know their victims
Only 23% of all females are stalked by strangers
59% of female victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partners
Victims in 69% of female homicides cases were stalked while in a relationship with their stalker
Victims in 88% of female homicides cases were stalked after the relationship ended
Approximately 28% of victims are raped by husbands or boyfriends, 35% by acquaintances, and 5% by other relatives. (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994. Violence by Intimates. Bureau of Justice Statistics. )
9 out of 10 women raped on campus do not tell anyone about the rape. (Rape Treatment Center, Santa Monica, 1995.)
Women of all races are equally vulnerable to attacks by intimates. (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994. Violence Against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics.)

For more information, call 322-1333

This project was supported by Grant No. 1999-WA-VX-0006 awarded by the Violence Against Women Office, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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