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Basic Facts about Rape & Sexual Assault
What is sexual assault?
GNESA's Working/Professional Definition of Sexual Assault:
Sexual assault is any sexual activity that is against another person's will including: rape (attempted rape), sodomy/aggravated sodomy, child molestation, fondling, sexual harassment, indecent exposure,stalking, peeping toms, sexual battery.
What is Rape?
Rape is an act of violence in which sex is used as a weapon. Rape occurs when a person engages in sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion or with someone who is incapable of consent.
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Legal Definition of Rape:
16-6-1
(GCA & 36-2001)
Rape
(a)
A person commits the offense of rape when he has carnal
knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Carnal
knowledge in rape occurs when there is any penetration of
the female sex organ by the male organ. The fact that the
person allegedly raped is the wife of the defendant shall
not be a defense to change of rape.
(b)
A person convicted of the offense of rape shall be punished
by death, by imprisonment for life, or by imprisonment for
not less than ten nor more 20 years. Any person convicted
under this Code section shall, in addition, be subject to
the sentencing and punishment provisions of Code Sections
17-10-7
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Rape Facts
- Rape is an act of violence, power, and control.
- Rape is often planned or carried out by intimate partners, acquaintances, family members, or strangers.
- Rape is motivated primarily out of anger and/or a need to feel powerful by controlling, dominating, or humiliating the victim.
- Survivors are not responsible for causing their assaults; only offenders are to be blamed for sexual assault and rape.
- Rape is the fastest growing violent crime in The United States. (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994)
- In the United States, a woman is raped every 6 minutes. (Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center of the National Victims Center, 1992)
- The rate of sexual assault in the United States is the highest of any industrialized nation in the world. (Reiso and Roth, 1993)
- 1 in 4 women will be a victim of sexual violence at some point in her lifetime. (Warshaw, R. 1988. I Never Called It Rape. Harper and Row).
- 1 in 6 boys will be sexually assaulted by age 18. (Walker, L. 1988. Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children)
- An estimated 92,700 men are forcibly raped each year in the United States. (Tjaden and Thoennes, 1998)
- 84% of all rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. (Warsaw, R. 1988. I Never Called It Rape. Harper and Row)
- 57% of all sexual assault occur during a date. (Koss, Wodruff, Koss study, 1990)
- Rape remains the most underreported violent crime in the United States.(Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center of the National Victims Center, 1992)
- Women who are raped by men they know are less likely to report the crime to the police than women who are raped by strangers. (Bachman, 1994)
- 1 out of 3 high school relationships includes battering or rape. (Creighton, A., 1990. Helping Teens Stop Violence)
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