NCJ Number
209474
Date Published
September 2004
Length
115 pages
Annotation
This report presents data on sex crimes reported to police in New Mexico in 2003, survivors assisted by service providers, cases processed to disposition in the district and magistrate courts, and the conviction rates.
Abstract
Data are based on reports from 92 law enforcement agencies that have jurisdiction over 98 percent of the State's population. The estimated rate of reported and unreported rape in New Mexico in 2003 was almost 5 per 1,000 persons, or 8,428 rapes. This does not include the number of nonpenetration sex crimes reported to law enforcement in 2003 (1,277) or unreported nonpenetration sex crimes, which could be estimated at 25 times the number reported to law enforcement agencies, since only about 4 percent of nonpenetration sex crimes nationally are ever reported. Of the 2,628 sex crimes reported to police in 2003, 572 were disposed in the courts. There were 173 convictions in district and magistrate court, representing only 6 percent of all sex crimes known to law enforcement. Most offenders who committed penetration sex crimes were between the ages of 13 and 35; by contrast, most offenders who committed nonpenetration sex crimes were ages 7 through 25. Females were victims in 85 percent of the penetration sex crimes and in 83 percent of nonpenetration sex crimes. Eighty-five percent of those who sought help from service providers were females. Victims of all ethnic groups were unlikely to seek medical treatment or have rape-kit evidence collected, but White and Native-American victims were least likely to seek help. Only 39 percent of sex crimes that came to the attention of service providers were reported to law enforcement agencies. Recommendations are offered for addressing the problems revealed in the data. 18 tables, 41 figures, 8 references, and 13 appendixes with supplementary data, forms, and information