Sexual Assault Statistics
Sixty-seven percent of all victims of sexual assaults reported to law enforcement agencies are juveniles under the age of 18; 34% of all victims are under age 12.
One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies are under the age of 6.
Forty percent of the offenders who victimize children under the age of 6 are juveniles.
Nearly half of all juvenile sexual assault victims are under the age of 12, whereas the age group with the highest incidence of sexual assault is 14.
Sexual assault victims almost always know their attackers. Strangers were the offenders in just 3% of sexual assaults against victims under the age of 6 and 5% of the sexual assault victimizations of youth ages 6 through 11.
As with other crimes, 3 p.m. is the hour during which sexual assaults against children peak.
Arrests are made in only 27% of all sexual assault victimizations.
Source: Snyder, Howard N. Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement: Victim, Incident, and Offender Characteristics. National Center for Juvenile Justice. July, 2000.
Young girls who are sexually assaulted are more likely to develop eating disorders as adolescents. Source: Kendler, K. Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University; Archives of General Psychiatry. (2000).
Among male survivors, 80+% have a history of substance abuse, 50% had suicidal ideations, 23% attempted suicide, almost 70% received psychiatric treatment, and 31% violently victimized others. Source: Finkelhor, D. & Browne, A. Impact of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review of Research. Psychological Bulletin. (1996).
1 in 4 women and 1 in 5 men have been a victim of child sexual assault (VA Dep. Of Health)
Among female victims of sexual assault, over half experienced sexual assault before the age of 13, as did 39% of men. (VA Dep. Of Health)