Resurrection After Rape Community Group
Discussion, question-and-answer, general social support, and journal processing for progress-oriented rape survivors. No crisis, no damaging or triggering conflicts--this is for individuals who want to contribute to collective, cooperative action toward the goal of making actual PROGRESS through rape trauma. Much of this work is based on the book "Resurrection After...
the Bureau of Justice Statistices has just (September 15) released its new report on crime trends.
The good news: The rate of total violent crime victimizations declined by 13% in 2010, which was about three times the average annual decrease observed from 2001 through 2009 (4%).
The decline in the rate of simple assault accounted for about 82% of the total decrease in the rate of violent victimization in 2010.
The might-be-bad news: the rape rate increased by 49% since 2009. But since 2001, the OVERALL rape rate has declined by 24%. The trend is still good, but last year was a bad year.
Why'd it go up? The study says, "Care should be taken in interpreting the increase in the number of rape or sexual assault (49.6%) between 2009 and 2010, because the estimates are based on a small number of cases reported in the survey." So this may be a "selection bias" in the research; I agree with this because it would be very unlikely that rape would suddenly spike by almost 50% in one year, when the ten-year-trend (and the trend for every other violent crime) has been a steady decline.
Other interesting facts: 20% of all violent crimes involved a weapon, but only 12% of rapes did.
50% of rapes were reported to police, but again, this is based on a VERY small study sample. Still, we do know that the general trend has been for increased police reporting since 2001.
Females (1.3 per 1,000) were more likely than males (0.1 per 1,000) to be victims of rape or sexual assault. Males were more likely victims for every other violent crime. In total, men are the victims of violent crimes more often than women.
The good news: The rate of total violent crime victimizations declined by 13% in 2010, which was about three times the average annual decrease observed from 2001 through 2009 (4%).
The decline in the rate of simple assault accounted for about 82% of the total decrease in the rate of violent victimization in 2010.
The might-be-bad news: the rape rate increased by 49% since 2009. But since 2001, the OVERALL rape rate has declined by 24%. The trend is still good, but last year was a bad year.
Why'd it go up? The study says, "Care should be taken in interpreting the increase in the number of rape or sexual assault (49.6%) between 2009 and 2010, because the estimates are based on a small number of cases reported in the survey." So this may be a "selection bias" in the research; I agree with this because it would be very unlikely that rape would suddenly spike by almost 50% in one year, when the ten-year-trend (and the trend for every other violent crime) has been a steady decline.
Other interesting facts: 20% of all violent crimes involved a weapon, but only 12% of rapes did.
50% of rapes were reported to police, but again, this is based on a VERY small study sample. Still, we do know that the general trend has been for increased police reporting since 2001.
Females (1.3 per 1,000) were more likely than males (0.1 per 1,000) to be victims of rape or sexual assault. Males were more likely victims for every other violent crime. In total, men are the victims of violent crimes more often than women.
-- General sexual offences (no real explanation of what makes it "general") --
"There were no changes in the overall prevalence of sexual assault between 2008/09 and
2009/10. The overall prevalence of sexual assault has fallen since 2004/05
Police recorded statistics on sexual offences are likely to be more heavily influenced by
under-reporting than the BCS and therefore should be interpreted with caution. Analysis of
the 2007/08 BCS self-completion module showed that 11 per cent of victims of serious sexual
assault told the police about the incident (Povey et al., 2009). There were 54,509 sexual
offences recorded by the police in 2009/10, a six per cent increase compared with the
previous year"
-- Serious sexual offences --
The police recorded crime category of most serious sexual crime encompasses rape, sexual
assault, and sexual activity with children. The Sexual Offences Act 2003, introduced in May
2004, altered the definitions of these offences, affecting long-term trends in these figures.
The police recorded 43,579 most serious sexual offences in 2009/10, a seven per cent
increase compared with the 40,748 recorded in 2008/09. Most serious sexual offences
accounted for 80 per cent of total sexual offences and one per cent of all recorded crime in
2009/10. Within this total, police recorded rapes of a female increased by 15 per cent to
13,991 offences, and sexual assaults on a female increased by one per cent to 19,873
offences. Rapes of a male increased by 22 per cent to 1,174 offences and sexual assaults on
a male decreased by two per cent to 2,270 offences. As mentioned above, these
increases may be affected by steps forces have been taking to improve their recording of
sexual offences.
The category of serious sexual assault used in the BCS self-completion module includes
incidents of rape and assault by penetration. The 2009/10 BCS self-completion module
showed that 0.1 per cent of men and 0.4 per cent of women had been the victim of a serious
sexual assault (including attempts) in the year prior to interview. These estimates were not
significantly different compared with the 2008/09 BCS
Other sexual offences
The police recorded 10,930 other sexual offences in 2009/10, a two per cent increase
compared with 2008/09 (Table 2.04). The police recorded crime category of other sexual
offences covers unlawful sexual activity, some of which involves consenting adults. It also
includes exploitation of prostitution and soliciting, but not prostitution itself.
NOTE:
British Crime Survey (BCS)
These statistics are based on interviews and can provide a better reflection of the true extent of crime. For the crime types it covers, the BCS can provide a better reflection of the true extent of crime because it includes crimes that are not reported to the police. The BCS count also gives a better indication of trends in crime over time because it is unaffected by changes in levels of reporting to the police and in police recording practices.
Figures for these offences are particularly influenced by local police activity, rather than reporting by victims. The BCS self-completion module includes a category of less serious sexual assault which
covers incidents of indecent exposure, sexual touching and sexual threats. The 2009/10 BCS
self-completion module showed that 0.4 per cent of men and 2.1 per cent of women had been
victims of less serious sexual assault in the year prior to interview (again, not a significant
change compared with 2008/09).
Sources: http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/ . http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb1210chap3.pdf .
Anyway, here is a VERY interesting breakdown of why the above stats cannot be trusted as an accurate picture and suggests the prevalence of rape actually increased in the UK - not, decreasing by 50% as the crime stats suggested
http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/2010/11/29/rape-statistics-what-can-we-rely-on/ .