Strangers Are Not the Problem
WHY IS EVERYONE WARNING YOU ABOUT ‘STRANGER DANGER’ ?
It seems to be the phrase that everyone has heard of – stranger danger. I think that might be because it’s simple and it rhymes, because as a cautionary saying it has little else going for it. What’s the good of terrifying our children about strangers and vilifying the “unknown” when the biggest source of danger is much closer at hand? Take a look at these numbers -
92% of rapes were committed by known assailants. About half of all rapes and sexual assaults against women are committed by friends and acquaintances -and 26% are by intimate partners.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice: (All statistics are taken from: Violence Against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
- One of every four rapes take place in a public area or in a parking garage.
- 31% of female victims reported that the offender was a stranger.
- 68% of rapes occur between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.
- At least 45% of rapists were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- In 29% of rapes, the offender used a weapon.
- In 47% of rapes, the victim sustained injuries other than rape injuries.
- 75% of female rape victims require medical care after the attack.
In a national survey 27.7% of college women reported a sexual experience since the age of fourteen that met the legal definition of rape or attempted rape, and 7.7% of college men reported perpetrating aggressive behavior which met the legal definition of rape.
- About 81% of rape victims are white; 18% are black; 1% are of other races. (Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
- About half of all rape victims are in the lowest third of income distribution; half are in the upper two-thirds. (Violence against Women, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1994.)
- There were 71 forcible rapes per 100,000 females reported to United States law enforcement agencies in 1996.
- Data from the National Women’s Study, a longitudinal telephone survey of a national household probability sample of women at least 18 years of age, show 683,000 women forcibly raped each year and that 84% of rape victims did not report the offense to the police.
- Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
- In 1995, 354,670 women were the victims of a rape or sexual assault. (National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1996.)
- Over the last two years, more than 787,000 women were the victim of a rape or sexual assault. (National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S.Department of Justice, 1996.)
- The FBI estimates that 72 of every 100,000 females in the United States were raped last year. (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Statistics, 1996.)
The National Crime Victimization Survey
