Who Is The Victim?
Rape is a crime that hurts people fromall backgrounds. Victims of sexual assault include: men and women, old and young, rich and poor, heterosexuals and homosexuals, persons with disabilities and persons from racial or diverse ethnic backgrounds.
The victim can be anyone, but females between the ages of 12–34 are most likely to be targets of sexual assault. Risk peaks in the late teen years. Girls 16 to 19 years of age are 4 times more
likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault [2000 NCVS]. In West Virginia more than one out of nine adult women or about 85,000 adult women in WV, have been the victim of forcible rape sometime in their lifetime.
According to the 2000 West Virginia State Police Incident Based Reporting System (WVIBRS):
l,069 victims of reported sex offenses to law enforcement:
The average age of the victim was 17.5 years old.
The most frequently reported age was 14. 65% of the victims were juveniles.
The majority of victims were female (85.9%) and related to or otherwise known to theoffender.
13.5% were males.
11.5% of the victims were strangers to the offender. In these cases, 40.7% of the offenseswere forcible rape.
43.9% of the juvenile victims suffered forciblefondling offenses.
The majority of the adult victims (51.6%) were subject to forcible rape. The victim’s race was most often white.
Who Is The Offender?
Despite stereotypes of a stranger in a dark alley, over 80% of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim. The offender in sexual assault cases is typically male. Men can also be victims of sexual assault. In these cases, the offender is usually another man. Approximately 10% of all adult rape victims are men.
There are no clear characteristics to identify sex offenders. Most sex offenders identify themselves as being heterosexual. They can be of any age, race, economic class or religion. They are married, single, divorced, live in all communities, and come from all types of families. Over 90% of offenders sexually assault someone who is of the same race.
Most sex offenders will continue to commit sexual offenses until they are caught. In cases that involve sexual abuse of children, the offenders are often people the child knows and trusts—family members, surrogate parents, other relatives or caregivers. Most offenders in child sexual abuse cases are male.
According to the 2000 WVIBRS;
1,058 offenders were reported to have committed sex offenses.
94% of the offenders were males, while 3% were females.
The majority of the offenders were white (80.3%), 11.8% were black, 0.4% were Asian and 0.1% were Indian/Alaskan natives.
32.5% of the offenders were between the ages of 18 and 25.
Juveniles accounted for 15.8% of sex offenders for this reporting period.
Where Does It Happen?
Three out of five sexual assaults occur in the victim’s home or the home of an acquaintance. In WV 66.5% of the reported sex offenses occurred at a residence or in a home. Of the remaining 33.5% locations included highways, alleys, fields or wooded areas, parking lots and garages.
Why Does It Happen?
Rape is an act of violence which uses sex as a weapon. It is not an act of romance or lust. The motive for rape is the need of the offender to feel powerful and in control. Studies of convicted rapists have found that the majority have consenting sexual partners.
It is not uncommon for a survivor of sexual assault to ask “Why me?”. That is a question no one can really answer. What is known is that the victim did not do anything to cause the attack. Sexual assault is prompted by an urge to control another human being. Rapists surprise their victims by catching them off-guard, by tricking them, and taking advantage of the situation when they have gained trust.
The victim is not to blame. The victim did not cause this to happen. No one would ask to have their life threatened, to be humiliated or degraded. The rapist is responsible.
What Are Ways Someone Can “Force” You to Have Sex?
Most sexual assaults involve some type of force, but force does not always mean physical violence (such as hitting or using a weapon). Force can happen in many ways. Here are some ways someone can force you into sex without using a weapon or physical violence:
• using threats to scare or intimidate you
• having sex with you when you're too drunk or high to say “no”
• not taking “no” for an answer
• threatening to harm a friend or family member
• manipulating or tricking you by not telling the truth or leading you on
• overpowering you physically because their body size is so much larger
• implying that something even worse will happen if you don’t give in
• using a position of authority and trust (such as a teacheror coach) to get you to agree to do something sexual
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