Incidence and Prevalence of Sexual Offending (Part II)

• NCJ Number: 248944
• Author(s): Jane Wiserman
• Date Published: July 2015
• Length: 5 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2010-DB-BX-K086
• Agencies: SMART-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Statistics; Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Issue Overview; Instructional Material

Annotation

This brief, the second of a two-part series, first addresses the incidence and prevalence of stalking in the U.S. population, followed by a discussion of data on sexual victimization among the following special populations: persons on college campuses, individuals with developmental disabilities, members of the military, and Indian Country populations.

Abstract

Because of different definitions of stalking used in surveys of the incidence of this crime, comparison across stalking studies is problematic; however, in 2006, the National Crime Victimization Survey assessed the extent of stalking. It estimated that 2.4 percent of the population had experienced stalking or harassment in the year prior to the study. Regarding sexual victimization on college campuses, the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that rape was the only category of violent crime for which the rates were higher on college campuses than among the general population. This warrants specialized prevention and intervention programs. Regarding the incidence and prevalence of sexual offenses against persons with disabilities, more and better data are needed in order to make reliable estimates. Regarding data on the incidence and prevalence of sexual offenses against members of the military, more study is needed on the extent, nature, and dynamics of such victimization in order to determine future policy directions; however, such victimization is deemed sufficiently prevalent for the Defense Department to give renewed emphasis on prevention and intervention measures for sexual offenses among members of the military. Although none of the existing estimates of sexual offending or victimization in Indian Country are precise, available data consistently show that Native-American women experience violent victimization and sexual victimization at significantly higher rates than other women in the United States. 17 references