Drug-facilitated, Incapacitated, and Forcible Rape: A National Study

• NCJ Number: 219181
• Author(s): Dean G. Kilpatrick Ph.D.; Heidi S. Resnick Ph.D.; Kenneth J. Ruggiero Ph.D.; Lauren M. Conoscenti M.A.; Jenna McCauley M.S.
• Date Published: February 2007
• Length: 70 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2005-WG-BX-0006
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This study identified how many women in the United States and in college settings have ever been raped or sexually assaulted during their lifetime and within the past year, key case characteristics of drug-facilitated and forcible rapes and, factors that affected women's reporting of rape to police or seeking help from a support network; and it compared different types of rape.

Abstract

The findings show that approximately 20 million out of 112 million women (18 percent) in the United States have ever been raped, including an estimated 18 million women who have been forcibly raped, nearly 3 million who have experienced drug-facilitated rape, and 3 million who have been raped while incapacitated. Only 16 percent of all rapes were reported to law enforcement. Victims of drug-facilitated or rape while they were incapacitated were somewhat less likely to report the rape to authorities than victims of forcible rape. Major barriers to reporting rape included not wanting others to know about the rape, fear of retaliation, perception that evidence was insufficient, uncertainty about how to report the crime, and uncertainty about whether a crime was committed or whether the offender intended her harm. Injury was reported for 52 percent of forcible rape incidents and 30 percent of drug-facilitated or incapacitated rape incidents. Approximately 673,000 of nearly 6 million current college women (11.5 percent) have ever been raped, with an estimated half-million college women having been forcibly raped, 160,000 experiencing drug-facilitated rape, and just over 200,000 having been raped while incapacitated. Among college women, approximately 12 percent of rapes were reported to law enforcement. Consistent with the national sample, victims of drug-facilitated or incapacitated rape were less likely than victims of forcible rape to report it to police. Reasons for not reporting the rape were similar to those for nonreporting in the national sample. 52 exhibits and 51 references