Rape: Behavioral Aspects

The National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center reported in 1992 that 13 percent of all adult American women have been raped at some time in their lives. The NVC/CVRTC Report estimated that there were 683,000 forcible rapes during 1992, which translates to about 1,871 rapes per day. The American Psychological Association's Task Force on Male Violence Against Women concluded that between 14 and 25 percent of adult women have experienced rape (Goodman et al.). Although numerous methodological problems clearly preclude any definitive conclusions, a diverse cross-section of studies spanning several decades suggest that approximately 25 percent of adult women have experienced some form of sexual victimization and somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of women have been raped.