Child Rape and Sexual Assault

Numerous studies have found that rape is primarily a crime against youth, and that the majority of victims are female:

• About 35% of women and 20% of men in the U.S. were victims of child sexual abuse.
• In 1993, children between 12 and 15 experienced 29% of all rapes and sexual assaults.
• In 1994, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, 16 to 19 year old girls were raped/sexually assaulted at a rate of 10.3 per 1,000 persons. This was the highest rate of rape/sexual assault of persons over the age of 12 of either gender. Girls age 12 to 15 were victimized at the third highest rate, 5.7.
• More than half (54%) of the female rape victims identified by a national survey were under 18 years old when they were first raped; 22% were under 12 years old; and 32% were 12 to 17 years old.

Clearly there are strong connections among child rape/sexual abuse, incest and teen pregnancy:

• One study on sexual assault showed that 50% of the female survivors had been sexually abused before age 18; 16% incestuously.
• 70% to 90% of child sexual abusers are known to the child, with family members constituting 33% to 50% of the perpetrators against girls and 10% to 20% of the perpetrators against boys."
• In terms of the frequency of sexual abuse by relatives, 24% of perpetrators were fathers (including biological, foster, and step-), 13% were brothers, 25% were uncles, and 8% were grandfathers. In all, 5% were female, 1% being biological mothers.
• One study of women sexually abused by their fathers found that "[o]ne of the most significant distinguishing characteristics of the incestuous fathers was their tendency to dominate their families by the use of force. Half of the informants reported that their fathers were habitually violent" against mothers and children.
• 66% of pregnant and parenting adolescent women were found to have been raped at some point in their lives."

While we do not have any data on the rate of reporting of rape/sexual assault by child victims,
according to U.S. Department of Justice estimates, in 1995, nearly 72% of all rapes or attempted rapes
perpetrated in the U.S. were not reported to police.