Crime Data Brief June 1994, NCJ-147001
CHILD RAPE VICTIMS, 1992
By Patrick A. Langan, Ph.D. Caroline Wolf Harlow, Ph.D. BJS Statisticians
According to the FBI, 109,062 forcible rapes of females were reported to the Nation's law enforcement agencies in 1992.-1 A Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) survey of the States (including the District of Columbia) solicited data on victims' ages. Thirty-six States reported that they did not keep such statistics, and the remaining 15 responded with information on 26,427 female victims, or nearly one-fourth the national total. Statistics from the BJS State survey revealed that:
About 1 in 4 rape victims were under: age 10 in Delaware, Michigan age 11 in North Dakota age 14 in Arkansas age 15 in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin age 16 in the District of Columbia, Idaho
About 1 in 3 rape victims were under: age 13 in Delaware, Michigan, North Dakota age 16 in Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin age 17 in Alabama age 18 in the District of Columbia, Idaho
Twelve States reported in sufficient detail to distinguish juvenile from adult rape victims. Their 20,824 victims comprised 20% of the national total. In the 12 States, 51% of female rape victims were juveniles under age 18. By comparison, females under 18 comprised 25% of the 1992 U.S. female population.
Two Federal statistical programs provide national measures of rape incidence: the FBl's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, which records rapes reported to law enforcement agencies, and the BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which records reported and unreported rapes, based on Census Bureau interviews with the American public age 12 and older.
While statistics from the NCVS provide details on victims' ages, they do not include children under age 12. Experts agree that this segment of the population cannot be reliably interviewed in the NCVS. Children under 12 are included in the UCR program, but UCR national statistics provide no age details. Consequently, neither program offers information on rape victims under 12. In recent years a growing number of States have adopted a more detailed reporting system in the UCR program. Data from the developing system were gathered in the BJS survey of States and used here to estimate the number of rape victims under age 12. The estimate was based on those States that indicated the number of victims under age 12 or thereabout. Data from 12 States qualified: the 5 that reported the number under 12, 4 others that reported the number age 12 and under, and 3 others that reported the number under 11.
The 12 States reported ages on 23,938 victims, or 22% of the national total.2 Based on these data, an estimated 16% of rape victims, or 1 in 6, were under age 12. By comparison, females under 12 comprised 17% of the 1992 U.S. female population.
Applying the 16% figure from the 12 States to the national total, BJS estimated that nationwide about 17,000 girls under age 12 (16% of 109,062) were raped in 1992. This is a conservative estimate because it was derived from statistics on rapes reported to law enforcement officials and did not include unreported rapes. Also, to some unknown degree the estimate is imprecise because the 12 States that formed its basis were probably not nationally representative.
Notes
# of Cumulative percent of female victims of forcible rape female victims under under under under under of forcible rape* age 10 age 11 age 12 age 13 age 14
State
Alabama 1,404 4% 6% 7% 10% 17% Arkansas 986 9 24 Delaware 783 22 29 Dist. Columbia 205 5 Florida 7,280 14 Idaho 221 5 9 Kansas 1,013 1 Michigan 4,731 25 28 31 35 41 Nebraska 290 6 No. Carolina 2,397 5 No. Dakota 124 25 30 35 44 Penn. 2,996 9 14 Rhode Island 490 49 So. Carolina 2,193 9 16 Wisconsin 1,314 4 6 8 10 14
# of Cumulative percent of female victims of forcible rape
female victims under under under under 18 or
of forcible rape* age 15 age 16 age 17 age 18 older
State
Alabama 1,404 24% 30% 35% 38% 62% Arkansas 986 44 56 Delaware 783 50 61 66 71 29 Dist. Columbia 205 22 28 32 68 Florida 7,280 46 54 Idaho 221 20 24 29 35 65 Kansas 1,013 12 Michigan 4,731 49 58 64 68 32 Nebraska 290 31 42 58 No. Carolina 2,397 20 No. Dakota 124 48 50 52 57 43 Penn. 2,996 25 32 37 42 58 Rhode Island 490 70 30 So. Carolina 2,193 40 Wisconsin 1,314 22 29 37 42 58
Note: Blanks indicate detail was not reported. *Excludes victims with unknown age. Source: BJS State survey of rapes reported to law enforcement agencies in 1992.
VICTIM-OFFENDER RELATIONSHIP
Two sources provided information on rapists: interviews with rape victims reported to law enforcement agencies in 1991 in three States (Alabama, North Dakota, and South Carolina ) and 1991 interviews with rapists confined in the Nation's State prisons. Sources indicated similar accounts of rape victim ages:
1991 Percent of female rape victims
Victims in 3 States 100% 14% 29% 57% Imprisoned rapists 100 14 24 62
Regardless of the source, when the victim was under 12, the likelihood of family relationship was relatively high: 46% of victims and 70% of imprisoned rapists. Additional detail from the three-State survey revealed that 20% of victims under age 12,11% of victims age 12 to 17, and 1% of those 18 or older were raped by their fathers.
The older the victim, the less likely that victim and offend were family members and the more likely they were strangers to one another: 4% of victims under 12 said the rapist was a stranger, compared to 33% of victims 18 or older; 6% of imprisoned rapists of females under 12 said the victim was a stranger, compared to 47% of imprisoned rapists of females 18 or older.
Victim-offender relationship
Age of Family Acquaintance victim Total member or friend -a Stranger
Source: Victims in 3 States
Under 12 100% 46% 50% 4% 12-17 100 20 65 15 18 or older 100 12 55 33
Source: Imprisoned rapists
Under 12 -b 100% 70% 24% 6% 12-17 100 36 45 19 18 or older 100 8 45 47
Sources: Tabulated from data described in Using NIBRS Data to Analyze Violent Crime, BJS technical report, NCJ- 144785, October 1993; BJS, Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991, NCJ-136949, March 1993.
Acknowledgment: Richard Florence of the Justice Research and Statistics Association collected State rape data through telephone survey of State Statistical Analysis Centers and police officials of the District of Columbia, Nevada, and Wyoming.