An article written by “Jill” at Feministe. This is only the first part of the article, please visit their site to read the full post, it is very good. Here is the beginning of it:
Soaring Rates of Rape and Domestic Violence in the United States
The Department of Justice has recently started using more accurate methodology in estimating crime rates, and what do you know: Gender-based violence is significantly more common than we all thought.
Sexual assault and domestic violence rates are notoriously under-reported, to police and to researchers. Gathering statistics on too-often “private” crimes is a daunting task, and the previous method — using an automated computer system — contributed to severe under-reporting. The new statistics, which were gathered by real people instead of a computerized voice, show a 42 percent increase in reported domestic violence and a 25 percent increase in rape and sexual assault.
The DOJ press release is here. One thing I find particularly interesting about this report is the gender breakdown. In my essay in Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape
Of offenders victimizing males in 2007, three percent were described as intimates and 50 percent as strangers. In contrast, 23 percent of offenders victimizing females were described as intimates and 28 percent as strangers. An estimated 20 percent of all violent crime incidents were committed by an armed offender, with a firearm being involved in seven percent of all violent crime incidents.
Here’s the full report (pdf). Of all the women who reported experiencing a violent crime in 2007, 69 percent of them suffered that crime at the hands of someone they knew (not just intimates). For men, it’s 46 percent — and the vast majority of those are from a friend or acquaintance.
