SEXUAL ASSAULT/ AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT

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Sexual Assault

  • In 2001, 248,000 people were raped/sexually assaulted in the United States. This represents an 8.3 percent drop over a year.89 According to victims, only 39 percent of all rape/sexual assault was reported to law enforcement agencies during 2001.
  • Law enforcement agencies across the country received 90,491 reports of forcible rape in 2001, an increase of 0.3 percent since 2000. Of these, 44.3 percent were cleared.
  • In 2001, 91 percent of victims of rape/sexual assault were female.
  • All victims of completed rape are regarded as being injured. In addition to the rape, 38 percent of female rape victims sustained an injury.
  • Only 32 percent of injured completed rape victims were treated for their injuries. For those who were treated, treatment ranged from receiving care at the scene to being admitted to a hospital.
  • Approximately 2 percent of all female murder victims in 2001 were raped prior to being killed.
  • In a study of recent female rape victims, a total of 73 percent were extremely fearful either at the time of the rape or afterwards about contracting HIV due to rape.
  • A nationally representative sample of emergency departments' treatment of rape victims found that only one-third of the victims received some type of STD (sexually transmitted diseases) screening. Of those, 35 percent received STD medication, which translates into a toal of 13 percent of those who were both screened and received STD medication.
  • About 386,000 convicted sex offenders were registered in 49 states and the District of Columbia as of February 2001, compared to 277,000 registered in April 1998.
  • A large, multi-site study of persons suffering from severe mental illness (SMI) found that 20 percent of the women reported a sexual assault in the previous 12 months, and 80 percent reported either physical or sexual assault in adulthood.

Survivor Guide

Survivor Guide

If You Are A Victim

Get to a safe place.

Do not shower, bathe, wash your hands, brush your teeth, use the toilet or clean up in any way. You could destroy evidence. If you have already done any of these things, evidence may still be present for collection.

Do not change or destroy clothing. Your clothes are evidence.

If it was in your home, do not rearrange and/or clean up anything. You could destroy evidence.

Get medical attention as soon as possible. Evidence should be collected when you get to the hospital.

Contact a friend or family member you trust or call the local rape crisis center hotline.

Most of all, know that this is not your fault.

You Have The Right To:

determine whether to report the crime to the police,

ask for a male or female police officer if you choose to report,

locate an attorney to represent you (the prosecutor is not your attorney),

sue the rapist in civil court for money,

refuse to have evidence collected,

request that someone accompany you in the examination room, and

be considered a rape victim/survivor regardless of the rapist's relationship to you.

Others

Sexual assault or rape is a violent crime, not a sexual act.  The myth that men who rape women are sexually deprived or pathological has begun to be dispelled, replaced with understanding that rape is an act of power and control, rather than lust.  According to the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, more than 330,000 rapes occur each year in Texas.

The experience of sexual assault has different meanings for each person.  No one knows precisely how an individual will react, but crisis counselors have found that most people experience sexual assault a severe emotional and physical violation, usually referred to as rape trauma syndrome.  This is considered a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  For sexual assault victims, the emotional and spiritual trauma can be the most difficult to overcome.

The trauma can produce pronounced feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, as well as physical symptoms such as breathing problems, vomiting extreme trembling, outbursts of anger, nightmares, and the inability to remember events.  Phobic anxiety may set in casing a person to want to avoid any situation that may trigger memories. Victims are also likely to experience depression.

Eventually, the victim may become despondent, demoralized and preoccupied with pain or disability.  He/she feels no one understands. If the victim is not validated, often the case with rape victims, this may feed into his/her sense of worthlessness and shame.

Note: Research indicates that repeated trauma, including sexual molestation, experienced by children younger than three years old may cause malformation of the brain.

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