Sexual assault is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of sexual offenses. Sex crimes vary from state to state. In Kentucky, rape, sexual abuse, and sodomy are the major categories of sex crimes. Below are statutory definitions of these crimes and related terms.
Sexual Intercourse means penetration of one person¹s sexual organ by another¹s sexual organ or by a foreign object manipulated by another person.
Deviant Sexual Intercourse means any act of sexual gratification involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another or penetration of the anus of one person by a foreign object manipulated by another person.
Sexual Contact means any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person done for the purpose of gratifying the sexual desire of either party.
Forcible Compulsion means physical force or threat of force, expressed or implied, which places a person in fear of immediate death, physical injury to self or another person, fear of the immediate kidnap of self or another person, or fear of any offense under KRS Chapter 510. Resistance on the part of the victim shall not be necessary to meet this definition.
Incapable of Consent means the person is physically helpless, mentally retarded, mentally incapacitated or unable to give consent due to age.
Physically Helpless means that a person is unconscious or for any other reason physically unable to communicate unwillingness to an act.
Mentally Incapacitated means that a person is rendered temporarily unable to understand or control their own conduct because of a controlled or intoxicating substance given to him/her without consent or as a result of any other act committed upon him/her without consent.
Rape occurs when a person engages in sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion or engages in sexual intercourse with another person who is incapable of consent.
Sodomy is commonly defined as anal or oral sex and legally described, in Kentucky, as deviant sexual intercourse.
Sexual Abuse occurs when a person subjects another person to sexual contact by forcible compulsion or if the other person is incapable of consent. This term is commonly used to refer to cases of sexual violence involving children.
Incest occurs when a person engages in sexual intercourse or deviant sexual intercourse with a known relative. Relative refers to full-blood, half-blood, adopted, and step relatives. It is not necessary to prove force, consent, or age to prove incest.
Stalking is a crime involving an intentional course of conduct meant to intimidate or harass a specific person or persons which seriously alarms, annoys, intimidates, or harasses the person(s) and which serves no legitimate purpose. Course of conduct means two or more acts, evidencing a continuity of purpose. A civil right of action for stalking also exists in Kentucky.
In Kentucky
There were 1,107 forcible rapes reported to the police in 1998. Of those, 43.6% were cleared by arrest. (1)
In Kentucky, one rape occurred every 7 hours and 55 minutes in 1998. (1)
National Look
In 1998, persons 12 and older reported experiencing an estimated 89,000 attempted rapes (unchanged from 1997), 110,000 completed rapes (unchanged from 1997) and nearly 133,000 threatened or completed sexual assaults (20% increase from 1997). (2)
One in six women (18%) reported a completed or attempted rape sometime in their lifetime. (3)
3% of women reported a completed or attempted rape within the last 12 months. (3)
One in 33 men (3%) reported a completed or attempted rape sometime in their lifetime. (3)
1% of men reported a completed or attempted rape within the last 12 months. (3)
8.1% of women and 2.2% of men reported being stalked in their lifetime. (3)
18% of the women raped before the age of 18 years said they were also raped after the age of 18 years as compared with 9% of women not raped before the age of 18 years. (3)
Who are the Offenders?
90% of rapes involved a male offender and a female victim. In 8.7% of cases both offender and victim were male, in 0.8% both were female, and in 0.2% the offender was female and the victim was male. (5)
In cases where there were multiple offenders, the majority of victims did not know the offenders. (6)
Age of Offenders: (6)
51.9% were 30 years of age or older
30.5% were 21-29 years of age
9.2% were 18-20 years of age
5.9% were under 18 years of age
2.5% age unknown
Who are the Victims? Anyone can be a victim of sexual assault. Rapists do not discriminate of the basis of age, race, gender, etc.
Among women, age at time of first rape: (3)
21.6% under 12 years
32.4% 12-17 years
29.4% 18-24 years 16.6% over 25 years
18% of the women raped before the age of 18 years said they were also raped after the age of 18 years as compared with 9% of women not raped before the age of 18 years.(3)
Victims were equally distributed among all races and ethnicity. (2)
88% of victims and offenders were of the same race. Offenders rarely cross racial lines. (2)
Characteristics of the Assault
Time rapes occurred (6)
6:00pm-midnight 37.0%
Midnight-6:00am 32.0%
6:00am-6:00pm 31.0%
Nearly six out of ten rapes occurred in the victim¹s home or at the home of a friend, relative, or neighbor. (6)
In over one-third of rape/sexual assaults, the offender was using alcohol/drugs at the time of the assault. (7)
75% of men and 55% of women involved in acquaintance rape had been using alcohol/drugs just before the assault.(9)
87% of rape/sexual assault cases do not involve a weapon, 4% involve a firearm and 9% involved other weapons or presence of a weapon was unknown. (2)
70% of rape victims reported no physical injury, 4% sustained serious injury, while 24% had minor physical injuries. (9)
36% of women received some form of medical treatment.(3)
How do survivors react?
Most survivors experience a range of trauma symptoms. Many survivors feel they would rather have died than have survived the assault. (8)
30% contemplated suicide after the incident (8)
31% sought psychotherapy (8)
22% took self-defense courses (8)
82% said the experience had permanently changed them (8)
Based on the US Census estimates of the number of adult women in the United States, approximately 1.3 million women currently have rape related post traumatic stress disorder (RR-PTSD) and over 200,000 women will develop RR-PTSD each year. (9)
The Cost of Sexual Violence
The tangible costs of each rape/sexual assault are estimated at $5,100 and the intangible costs are estimated at $81,400. This is seven times the estimated cost of robbery with injury.
The annual losses due to rape and sexual assault are the highest at $127 billion as compared to the annual loss due to fatal crimes at $93 billion (based on 1993 dollars).
Legal Outcomes
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' study Criminal Victimization 1998, 58% of aggravated assaults were reported to police compared to 32% of sexual assaults.(2)
There were 93,103 forcible rapes of women reported to the police according to the 1997 Uniform Crime Report. Of those, 50% were cleared by arrest. (4)
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' 1998 study Sex Offenses and Offenders, of those convicted, 82% of defendants plead guilty whereas 14% were found guilty by a jury trial. Those convicted by a jury trial received an average of 13 years longer in prison. (5)
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