STATISTICS

One out of four women will be sexually assaulted on a college campus.
--Hirsch (1990). National Victims Center. Retrieved August 16, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.ncvc.org/ index.html

One out of eight women will be raped while in college. --Martin, Laura C. (1992). A Life Without Fear. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 71. Retrieved August 15, 2000 from http://www.uga.edu/~safe-campus/

84% of women who were raped knew their assailant.
--National Victims Center (1992). Retrieved August 15, 2000 from http://www.uga.edu/~safe-campus/

57% of rapes occur on a date.
--Koss, Woodruff (1990). Koss Study. Retrieved August 15, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.uga.edu/~safe-campus/

75% of male students and 55% of female students involved in date rape had been drinking or using drugs.
--Koss, M.P. (1998). Hidden Rape: Incidence, Prevalence and Descriptive Characteristics of Sexual Aggression and Victimization in a National Sample of College Students. In Burgers, A.W. (ed.) Sexual Assault, Vol. II. New York: Garland Publishing Co. Retrieved August 15, 2000, from the World Wide Web: http://www.uga.edu/~safe-campus/

About 3 percent of college women experience a completed and/or attempted rape during a typical college year.
--Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 2001

Of the incidents of sexual victimization, the vast majority occurred after 6 p.m. in living quarters. For completed rapes, nearly 60 percent that took place on campus occurred in the victim's residence, 31 percent occurred in other living quarters on campus and 10 percent occurred at a fraternity. Most off-campus victimizations, especially rapes, also occurred in residences. However, particularly for sexual contacts and threatened victimizations, incidents also took place in bars, dance clubs, nightclubs and work settings. Most of the sexually assaulted women knew the person who victimized them.
--Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 2001

51-60% of college men report they would rape a woman if they were certain that they would get away with it. One out of twelve college men surveyed had committed acts that met the legal definition of rape; 84% of these men said what they did was DEFINITELY not rape --Tavris, C. & Wade, C. (1984) The Longest War: Sex Differences in Perspective, Second Edition San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers. --Warshaw, R. (1988) I Never Called it Rape: The Ms. Report New York: Harper and Row Publishers. --Women's Action Coalition (no date given) WAC Stats: The Facts About Women New York: WAC.

Given the above number and that Massachusetts represents 2.3% of the nation's population, the rate of adolescent and adult sexual assault in Massachusetts alone is approximately 7,645 per year, 637 per month, 21 per day and 1 per hour.
--U.S. Bureau of the Census, MA population projections, 1995 & National Crime Victimization Survey, 1999

This webpage is maintained by Jennifer Erwin. Email questions/comments to jerwin@mit.edu