Complete Indicator Profile of Rape

Definition

The rape rate is reported as the number of rapes among Utah females per 100,000 population.

Numerator

Number of reported rapes among females in Utah.

Denominator

Total female population of Utah.

Data Interpretation Issues

Statistics vary because of differences in how rape is defined and how data is collected. A limitation to Uniform Crime Reporting data is that the definition used for rape is very narrow. Cases are defined as penile-vaginal penetration of a female forcibly and against her will, therefore other types of rapes as defined by federal law are not reported. The numerator of the rate is by county of occurrence, not county of residence.

Why Is This Important?

Sexual violence in Utah is a serious public health problem affecting thousands of residents each year. Studies in Utah indicate that one in eight women and one in 50 men will experience rape in their lifetimes and nearly one in three women will experience some form of sexual violence during their lives.

Utah ranks 19th in the nation for reported forcible rapes. Rape is the only violent crime in Utah that is higher than the national average. In a state where other violent crimes such as, homicide, robbery or aggravated assault, is historically half to three times lower than the national average, this is of concern.

Rape affects the quality of life and may have lasting consequences for victims. The 2010 Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showed that rape victims had a significantly higher prevalence in reporting that they were not satisfied with life (14.7% vs. 4.8%), didn't receive the social and emotional support they need (33.8% vs. 13.2%), had fair or poor health (25.9% vs. 10.7%), and were limited in activities because of physical, mental, or emotional problems (39.2% vs. 19.7%).

Furthermore, females were significantly more likely to report sexual violence adverse childhood experiences compared to males. Females were twice as likely to report being touched sexually by an adult or forced to sexually touch an adult as a child compared to males. Females were seven times more likely to report being raped as a child compared to males.

The impact of sexual violence on the community is costly. At $127 billion per year, rape has the highest annual victim costs of any crime.

Sources:
1) Utah Health Status Update, Sexual Violence, April 2008, (accessed 10/21/2011) http://health.utah.gov/opha/publications/hsu/08Apr_SexualViolence.pdf
2) Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, 2007 Rape in Utah Survey, (accessed 10/21/2011) http://www.nomoresecrets.utah.gov/RapeinUtah2007.pdf
3) Utah Health Status Update, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health, July 2011, (accessed 10/21/2011) http://health.utah.gov/opha/publications/hsu/11Jul_ACE.pdf
4) U.S. Department of Justice, Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look, 1996.

Healthy People Objective IVP-40:

(Developmental) Reduce sexual violence
U.S. Target:

Other Objectives

Healthy People 2020 IVP-40.1: (Developmental) Reduce rape or attempted rape

UT Baseline 2006: 12.4% of females reported rape or attempted rape
UT Target: 11.2% (10 percent improvement)

Healthy People 2020 IVP-40.2: (Developmental) Reduce abusive sexual contact other than rape or attempted rape

Healthy People 2020 IVP-40.3: (Developmental) Reduce non-contact sexual abuse

How Are We Doing?

From 2002 to 2009, Uniform Crime Reports show that Carbon, Uintah, Salt Lake, Tooele and Weber counties had a significantly higher reported rape rate than the state rate of 70.0 per 100,000 female population. Cache, Davis, Washington, Utah, Juab, San Juan, Wasatch, Sanpete, and Emery counties had significantly lower reported rapes than the state.

Unfortunately the majority of rapes (88.2%) are not reported to law enforcement according to the 2007 Rape in Utah Survey. This clearly indicates that sexual violence rates are underestimated. Because we know that rape is underreported, it is difficult to gauge the magnitude of the problem using federal and state crime reports.

The 2010 Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) sexual violence data revealed that 12.2% of adult females and 1.2% of adult males experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. According to the 2007 Rape in Utah survey, 78.7% of females reported that their first sexual assault occurred before their 18th birthday.

In addition, the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed that 9.3% of Utah female high school students have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to compared to 6.5% of male high school students.

How Do We Compare With U.S.?

According to Uniform Crime Reports, the rape rate in Utah has been consistently higher than the U.S. rate. In 2009, Utah's reported rape rate was significantly higher than the U.S. rate (66.5 and 56.6 per 100,000 females respectively).

What Is Being Done?

The Utah Department of Health Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) and the Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA) collaborated in 1999 to enlist individuals, organizations, and agencies to participate in a statewide multi-disciplinary council addressing sexual violence. In 2003, the Utah Sexual Violence Council (USVC) was formed. The USVC is a multi-disciplinary, statewide advisory council that promotes a climate where sexual violence is addressed as a priority issue that impacts all Utah communities. Its vision is to change social norms and improve Utah's understanding of the overwhelming significance of this public health, social service, and criminal justice problem.

Since 2000, the VIPP has received Rape Prevention and Education Grants from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The intent of the grant is to ensure that UCASA, as well as rape recovery centers and other community based organizations, engage in collaborative efforts with the VIPP to provide rape primary prevention and education services.

Available Services

Statewide 24-hour Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis and Information Line
1-888-421-1100

Box Elder, Cache, Rich Counties
YCU Box Elder 435-723-5600
CAPSA 435-752-7023

Davis, Weber, Morgan Counties
Safe Harbor 801-444-3191
YCC, Ogden 801-394-9456

Salt Lake, Summit, Tooele Counties
University of Utah Women's Resource Center 801-581-8030
Rape Recovery Center 801-467-7282
Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy 435-843-3429
Peace House 435-647-9161

Juab, Millard, Utah, Wasatch Counties
Center for Women and Children in Crisis 801-356-2511

Iron, Beaver, Washington Counties
Cedar City-Canyon Creek Women's Crisis Center 435-867-9411
Dove Center 435-628-1204

Sevier, Wayne, Piute, Garfield, Kane Counties
New Horizons Crisis Center 435-896-9294

Carbon, San Juan, Emery, Grand Counties
Seekhaven 435-259-2229

Uintah, Daggett, Duchesne Counties
Vernal Victim Advocates 435-789-4250

More Information

Sexual violence resources and information can be found on the following websites:

Violence and Injury Prevention Program, Utah Department of Health
http://health.utah.gov/vipp

Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault
http://ucasa.org

National Sexual Violence Resource Center
http://www.nsvrc.org

Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network
http://www.rainn.org

Other Program Information

The Violence and Injury Prevention Program (VIPP) is a trusted and comprehensive resource for data related to violence and injury. Through education, this information helps promote partnerships and programs to prevent injuries and improve public health. VIPP goals are to a) focus prevention efforts on reducing intentional and unintentional injury, b) conduct education aimed at increasing awareness and changing behaviors that contribute to the occurrence of injury, c) strengthen local health department capacity to conduct local injury prevention programs, d) promote legislation, policy changes, and enforcement that will reduce injury hazards and increase safe behaviors, e) collaborate with private and public partners, and f) improve the Utah Department of Health capacity to collect mortality and morbidity data from multiple sources and conduct injury epidemiology for use in prevention planning, implementation, and evaluation.



Related Indicators

Relevant Population Characteristics

Women are more likely to be victims of sexual violence than men. Furthermore, sexual violence has been called a tragedy of youth. Sexual violence starts very early in life and more than half of all rapes of women (60.4%) and men (69.2%) occur before age 18. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, American Indian and Alaskan Native women were significantly more likely (34.1%) to report that they were raped than African American women (18.8%) or White women (17.9%).

Source: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Sexual Violence Fact Sheet (accessed 11/21/2011) http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/SV-DataSheet-a.pdf

Related Relevant Population Characteristics Indicator Profiles:


Health Care System Factors

According to the 2007 Rape in Utah Survey, only 12.7% of sexual assaults resulted in a visit to a doctor or medical center for an examination after the incident. Victims say they do not seek medical attention because they were not injured, they were too young to ask for help, they were afraid someone would find out what happened, and they were not thinking clearly. The main reasons for seeking medical care after a sexual assault were to be checked for a sexually transmitted infection, pregnancy, or to receive emergency contraception.

Source: Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, 2007 Rape in Utah Survey, 2005, (accessed 10/21/2011) http://www.nomoresecrets.utah.gov/Documents/RapeinUtah2007.pdf

Related Health Care System Factors Indicator Profiles:


Risk Factors

Research has identified the following risk factors for sexual violence perpetration: alcohol and drug use, impulsive and antisocial tendencies, hostility towards women, history of sexual abuse as a child, witnessing family violence as a child, associating with sexually aggressive and delinquent peers, strongly patriarchal relationship or family environment, lack of employment opportunities, general tolerance of sexual assault within the community, weak community sanctions against perpetrators of sexual violence, societal norms that support sexual violence, male superiority and sexual entitlement, and weak laws and policies related to gender equity.

Source: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Sexual Violence Fact Sheet (accessed 10/21/2011) http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/sexualviolence/riskprotectivefactors.html

Related Risk Factors Indicator Profiles:


Health Status Outcomes

Many long-lasting physical symptoms and illnesses have been associated with sexual victimization including chronic pelvic pain, premenstrual syndrome, gastrointestinal disorders, and a variety of chronic pain disorders, including headache, back pain, and facial pain. Immediate reactions to rape include shock, disbelief, denial, fear, confusion, anxiety, withdrawal, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, victims often experience anxiety, guilt, nervousness, phobias, substance abuse, sleep disturbances, depression, alienation, and sexual dysfunction. Women with a history of sexual assault are more likely to attempt or commit suicide than other women.

Source: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Sexual Violence Fact Sheet (accessed 10/21/2011) http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/sexualviolence/consequences.html

Related Health Status Outcomes Indicator Profiles:




Graphical Data Views

Female Forcible Rape, Utah and U.S. 2000-2009

::chart - missing::

Geog: Utah vs. U.S. Year Rate per 100,000 Females Lower Limit Upper Limit Numer Denom
Utah 2000 74.8 69.8 80.0 838 1,120,689
Utah 2001 75.9 71.0 81.1 873 1,149,661
Utah 2002 77.7 72.7 82.9 913 1,175,377
Utah 2003 70.1 65.5 75.0 843 1,202,403
Utah 2004 73.6 68.9 78.5 905 1,229,757
Utah 2005 73.3 68.7 78.2 930 1,268,111
Utah 2006 66.7 62.3 71.3 868 1,301,270
Utah 2007 68.8 64.4 73.3 923 1,342,469
Utah 2008 64.8 60.6 69.2 888 1,371,017
Utah 2009 66.5 62.2 70.9 925 1,391,613
U.S. 2000 62.8 62.3 63.2 90,178 143,713,409
U.S. 2001 62.6 62.2 63.0 90,863 145,083,005
U.S. 2002 65.1 64.6 65.5 95,235 146,390,096
U.S. 2003 63.6 63.2 64.0 93,883 147,649,491
U.S. 2004 63.9 63.4 64.3 95,089 148,908,065
U.S. 2005 62.8 62.4 63.2 94,347 150,192,384
U.S. 2006 61.2 60.8 61.6 92,757 151,532,510
U.S. 2007 59.1 58.7 59.5 90,427 152,967,793
U.S. 2008 57.7 57.3 58.1 89,000 154,300,620
U.S. 2009 56.6 56.3 57.0 88,097 155,557,060
Record Count: 30

Data Notes

Forcible rape, as defined in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Assaults and attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded. The rape rate includes only those that have been reported to law enforcement and is an underestimate of the actual rape rate. Some law enforcement agencies do not submit a full 12 months of data and some agencies do not submit any data at all.

Data Sources

Bureau of Criminal Identification, Utah Department of Public Safety. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Population Estimates: Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget. U.S. Bureau of the Census.



Female Forcible Rape by County, Utah 2002-2009

::chart - missing::

County Rate per 100,000 Females Lower Limit Upper Limit Note Numer Denom
Beaver ** 1.0 29.2 ** ** 24,738
Box Elder 59.5 48.9 71.8 109 183,134
Cache 55.8 48.9 63.4 236 422,758
Carbon 99.4 78.8 123.7 80 80,469
Daggett ** ** ** 3,392
Davis 55.3 51.0 59.8 619 1,120,061
Duchesne 70.8 51.4 95.0 44 62,179
Emery 14.3 5.2 31.2 * 6 41,913
Garfield ** ** ** 18,700
Grand 90.9 62.6 127.7 33 36,288
Iron 66.1 54.4 79.6 111 168,014
Juab 38.0 20.8 63.8 14 36,827
Kane 55.3 30.2 92.8 14 25,319
Millard 53.8 35.7 77.8 28 52,052
Morgan ** 0.7 20.8 ** ** 34,683
Piute ** ** ** 5,478
Rich ** 0.3 64.9 ** ** 8,583
Salt Lake 92.3 89.3 95.4 3,603 3,902,829
San Juan 37.2 23.3 56.3 22 59,164
Sanpete 23.6 15.1 35.0 24 101,910
Sevier 61.3 45.4 81.1 49 79,898
Summit 56.4 44.7 70.2 80 141,786
Tooele 90.8 78.5 104.4 195 214,875
Uintah 93.6 76.6 113.3 105 112,169
Utah 44.0 41.1 47.1 828 1,881,235
Wasatch 24.7 15.1 38.1 20 81,116
Washington 47.4 41.7 53.7 245 516,786
Wayne ** ** ** 10,184
Weber 81.7 75.8 88.0 699 855,477
State 70.0 68.4 71.6 7,195 10,282,017
Record Count: 30

Data Notes

*Use caution in interpreting, the estimate has a relative standard error greater than 30% and does not meet UDOH standards for reliability. **The estimate has been suppressed because 1) The relative standard error is greater than 50% or when the relative standard error can't be determined, 2) the observed number of events is very small and not appropriate for publication, 3) it could be used to calculate the number in a cell that has been suppressed, or 4) data was not available. For more information, please go to http://health.utah.gov/opha/IBIShelp/DataSuppression.pdf. Forcible rape, as defined in the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. Assaults and attempts to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded. The rape rate includes only those that have been reported to law enforcement and is an underestimate of the actual rape rate. Some law enforcement agencies do not submit a full 12 months of data and some agencies do not submit any data at all.

Data Sources

Bureau of Criminal Identification, Utah Department of Public Safety. Population Estimates: Utah Governor's Office of Planning and Budget.



Females Who Reported They Have Ever Been Physically Forced to Have Sexual Intercourse When They Did Not Want To, Grades 9-12, Utah and U.S. 2003-2011

::chart - missing::

Geog: Utah vs. U.S. Year Percentage Lower Limit Upper Limit
Utah 2003 10.9% 7.7% 15.2%
Utah 2005 8.1% 5.6% 11.5%
Utah 2007 14.2% 9.8% 20.1%
Utah 2009 8.2% 5.6% 11.9%
Utah 2011 9.3% 7.4% 11.7%
U.S. 2003 11.9% 10.2% 13.8%
U.S. 2005 10.8% 9.6% 12.2%
U.S. 2007 11.3% 9.9% 12.8%
U.S. 2009 10.5% 9.6% 11.4%
Record Count: 9

Data Sources

Utah Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Utah Department of Health. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

Page Content Updated On 10/13/2011, Published on 10/31/2011
Violence and Injury Prevention Program, Bureau of Health Promotion, Division of Disease Control and Prevention, Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City, UT Telephone: (801) 538-6141. Email: vipp@utah.gov. Website: www.health.utah.gov/vipp
The information provided above is from the Utah Department of Health's Center for Health Data IBIS-PH web site (http://ibis.health.utah.gov). The information published on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation: "Retrieved Wed, 16 May 2012 20:28:31 from Utah Department of Health, Center for Health Data, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.health.utah.gov".

Content updated: Wed, 16 May 2012 20:28:31