Campus Sexual assault
y One in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually
assaulted while in college (i).
y More than 90% of sexual assault victims on college
campuses do not report the assault (c)
y 63.3% of men at one university who self-reported
acts qualifying as rape or attempted rape admitted
to committing repeat rapes (j)
Crime reports
y Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of
sexual assaults are not reported to police (o).
Only 12% of child sexual abuse is reported to the
authorities (g).
y The prevalence of false reporting is between
2% and 10%. For example, a study of eight U.S.
communities, which included 2,059 cases of sexual
assault, found a 7.1% rate of false reports (k).
A study of 136 sexual assault cases in Boston found
a 5.9% rate of false reports (j). Researchers studied
812 reports of sexual assault from 2000-03 and
found a 2.1% rate of false reports (h).
References
(a) Black, M. C., Basile, K. C., Breiding, M. J., Smith, S .G., Walters, M. L., Merrick, M.
T., … Stevens, M. R. (2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence
Survey: 2010 summary report. Retrieved from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control:
http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_Report2010-a.pdf
(b) Breiding, M. J., Chen J., & Black, M. C. (2014). Intimate Partner Violence in
the United States — 2010. Retrieved from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control: http://www.cdc.
gov/violenceprevention/pdf/cdc_nisvs_ipv_report_2013_v17_single_a.pdf
(c) Fisher, B., Cullen, F., & Turner, M. (2000). The sexual victimization of college
women (NCJ 182369). Retrieved from the National Criminal Justice Reference
Service: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/182369.pdf
(d) Delisi, M., Kosloski, A., Sween, M., Hachmeister, E., Moore, M., & Drury, A.
(2010). Murder by numbers: Monetary costs imposed by a sample of homicide
offenders. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 21, 501-513.
doi:10.1080/14789940903564388
(e) Duhart, D. T. (2001). Violence in the workplace, 1993-99. Retrieved from the U.S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://www.bjs.gov/content/
pub/pdf/vw99.pdf
(f) Finkelhor, D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I. A., & Smith, C. (1990). Sexual abuse in a
national survey of adult men and women: Prevalence, characteristics and risk
factors. Child Abuse & Neglect 14, 19-28. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(90)90077-7
(g) Hanson, R. F., Resnick, H. S., Saunders, B. E., Kilpatrick, D. G., & Best, C. (1999).
Factors related to the reporting of childhood rape. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23,
559–569. doi:10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00028-9
(h) Heenan, M., & Murray, S. (2006). Study of reported rapes in Victoria 2000-2003:
Summary research report. Retrieved from the State of Victoria (Australia),
Department of Human Services: http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/
pdf_file/0004/644152/StudyofReportedRapes.pdf
(i) Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C., Warner, T., Fisher, B., & Martin, S. (2007). The campus
sexual assault (CSA) study: Final report. Retrieved from the National Criminal
Justice Reference Service: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/221153.pdf
(j) Lisak, D., Gardinier, L., Nicksa, S. C., & Cote, A. M. (2010). False allegations of
sexual assault: An analysis of ten years of reported cases. Violence Against
Women, 16, 1318-1334. doi:10.1177/1077801210387747
(k) Lonsway, K. A., Archambault, J., & Lisak, D. (2009). False reports: Moving
beyond the issue to successfully investigate and prosecute non-stranger sexual
assault. The Voice, 3(1), 1-11. Retrieved from the National District Attorneys
Association: http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/the_voice_vol_3_no_1_2009.pdf
(l) Miller, T. R., Cohen, M. A., & Wiersema, B. (1996). Victim costs and consequences:
A new look (NCJ 155282). Retrieved from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office
of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/
victcost.pdf
(m) National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. (2012).
National Plan to Prevent the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children.
Retrieved from http://www.preventtogether.org/Resources/Documents/
NationalPlan2012FINAL.pdf
(n) National Sexual Violence Resource Center. (2011). Child sexual abuse prevention:
Overview. Retrieved from http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_
NSVRC_Overview_Child-sexual-abuse-prevention_0.pdf
(o) Rennison, C. A. (2002). Rape and sexual assault: Reporting to police and medical
attention, 1992-2000 [NCJ 194530]. Retrieved from the U.S. Department of
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://bjs.ojp.
usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/rsarp00.pdf
(p) Walters, M.L., Chen J., & Breiding, M.J. (2013). The National Intimate Partner
and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual
Orientation. Retrieved from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control:
http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_SOfindings.pdf
© National Sexual Violence Resource Center 2012, 2013, 2015. All rights reserved.