U.S. to Expand Its Definition of Rape in Statistics

U.S. to Expand Its Definition of Rape in Statistics
By CHARLIE SAVAGE January 6, 2012

WASHINGTON — The federal government is changing its longstanding definition of “forcible rape” in compiling national crime statistics — expanding both the definition of victims, to include males, and the types of sexual assault that will be counted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report.

The new definition, which has been in the works for several months and was formally announced by the Obama administration on Friday, will replace a narrower definition of “forcible rape” with one that includes, among other things, forcible oral or anal penetration. The narrower definition, which is limited to vaginal penetration, has been used since the 1920s in tracking how often such crimes are reported around the country.

Victim advocacy groups have long criticized the old definition as outdated, saying it left out many crimes that were prosecuted as rape under state laws but that were not reflected in national statistics. Last year, an F.B.I. advisory committee of law enforcement agencies agreed to a Justice Department request to update the definition….

The old definition — “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will” — covered only forcible penetration of a woman’s vagina by a penis, and excluded many other kinds of sexual assaults that count as rape under more modern definitions.

For example, the outdated definition did not count forcible anal or oral penetration, the penetration of the vagina or anus with an object or other body part, the rape of a man, or the rape of a woman by another woman.

It also did not cover nonconsensual sex that does not involve physical force — like the rape of people who are unable to grant consent because they are drugged, very drunk or younger than the age of statutory consent in their state, a number that varies across the country.

The new definition, which was drafted with input from local and state law enforcement agencies based on more modernized rape laws, encompasses a broader range of such circumstances. Specifically, it covers the “penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/politics/federal-crime-statistics-to-expand-rape-definition.html

FBI changes definition of rape to add men as victims
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY  1/6/2012
WASHINGTON — The FBI is changing its long-standing definition of rape for the first time to include sexual assaults on males following persistent calls from victims advocates who claim that the offense, as currently defined in the agency’s annual crime report, has been undercounted for decades.
Under the current definition, established 85 years ago, many of the sex crimes alleged in the ongoing prosecution of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky would not be counted in the bureau’s Uniform Crime Report, one of the most reliable measures of crime in the United States.

Sandusky is accused in alleged assaults and sexual misconduct involving 10 male victims.

Rape is currently defined as the “carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.”

The new provision will define rape as any kind of penetration of another person, regardless of gender, without the victim’s consent.

“This long-awaited change to the definition of rape is a victory for women and men across the country whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years,” Vice President Biden, who has worked extensively on domestic-violence issues, said in a statement released Thursday. http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2012-01-06-Rape_ST_U.htm

research study on ritual abuse-torture, child abuse statistics

Research on discrimination and stigmatization of persons who have survived non-state actor torture, including ritual abuse-torture, spousal and child torture

Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald are asking persons who have endured, or are enduring, non-state actor torture such as ritual abuse-torture, or spousal and child torture to participate in their research questionnaire linked below:

http://pub25.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=2120596064&cpv=2
Non-state actor torture is defined as torture committed, for instance, by parents, spouses, other kin, guardians, neighbours, trusted adults, or strangers in the private sphere, for example, in homes, warehouses, cabins, rented buildings, in fields, or in various public and private places.
Discrimination is described as being treated unjustly and stigmatized is being treated as unworthy or labeled after telling a non-offender about the torture endured.

Contact: flight@ns.sympatico.ca http://www.ritualabusetorture.org
for more information on Ritual Abuse-Toture see: http://childabusewiki.org/index.php?title=Ritual_Abuse_Torture

The Times Poll – 22% in Survey Were Child Abuse Victims By Lois Timmick Times Staff Writer 4/25/85 At least 22% of Americans have been victims of child sexual abuse, although one-third of them told no one at the time and lived with their secret well into adulthood, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found. In what is believed to be the first nationwide study of the extent of child molestation, 2,627 adults, chosen randomly, talked about their views of the problem and their own childhood experiences, and in the process they shattered some myths about victims, perpetrators and public attitudes. Twenty-seven percent of the women who participated in the telephone survey and 16% of the men said they had been molested as children–suggesting that the problem is more widespread than earlier, smaller studies have suggested….Abusers include friends and acquaintances (42%), strangers (27%) and relatives (23%). About half the abusers could be classified as “someone in authority.”
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1
Fewer than half the victims told someone–usually a parent, other relative or friend–about being molested within a year. Only 3% reported the incident to the police or other public agency.
One in three of the victims said they had never told anyone about the molestation until this survey, most often because they were afraid or ashamed, but in 10% of the cases because they did not consider the abuse serious. Seven of 10 who did tell said no effective action was taken.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1?pg=2
The public appears to have been well educated about some aspects of child sexual abuse. The respondents correctly perceived that molesters are more likely to be someone the victim knows than a stranger. Friends or acquaintances accounted for 44% of the molestations that involved sexual intercourse, the poll found, while 25% of the intercourse was perpetrated by relatives, usually an uncle but sometimes a parent or stepparent, and 19% by “strangers.”
More than half the victims–and 47% of the public–agree with the statement that “sexual assault within families is very common.”….As for the effects of sexual abuse on children, 95% of those polled say they believe that sexual abuse would have a “very great” or “some effect” on its young victims–mostly in emotional damage–and would permanently affect their lives. Victims agreed with that assessment.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1?pg=3
These Los Angeles Times Poll results are from responses from 2,627 adults nationwide questioned between July 20-25. 22% said they have been a victim of child sexual abuse, including 27% of all women asked and 16% of men asked.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-25/news/mn-24801_1?pg=4

The Times Poll – Children’s Abuse Reports Reliable, Most Believe
By Los Timnick Times Staff Writer 4/26/85  Most Americans believe that children can reliably describe sexual abuse that occurred years before, and those who are aware of the McMartin Pre-School molestation case believe that at least some of the child witnesses are telling the truth, a nationwide Los Angeles Times poll has found. Seventy-nine percent of those polled said they are “certain” that children under 13 are capable of giving accurate accounts of much earlier events, and 86% of those who had themselves been victimized as children said those accounts should be believed….One in three of those familiar with the McMartin case said they believe that “most” of the children had been sexually abused, and half said they believe that at least “some” had been molested. Ninety percent of those who identified themselves as having been child victims of sexual intercourse said they believe at least some of the child witnesses’ testimony.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-26/news/mn-26344_1_child-sexual-abuse
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-08-26/news/mn-26344_1_child-sexual-abuse?pg=2

VDAY – International Incest Statistics
http://www.vday.org/take-action/violence-against-women/incest