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 1/15/2013) http://health.utah.gov/opha/publications/hsu/08Apr_SexualViolence.pdf 2) Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, 2007 Rape in Utah Survey, (accessed 1/15/2013) http://nomoresecrets.utah.gov/Documents/RapeinUtah2007.pdf 3) Utah Health Status Update, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health, July 2011, (accessed 1/15/2013) http://health.utah.gov/opha/publications/hsu/11Jul_ACE.pdf 4) U.S. Department of Justice, Victim Costs and Consequences: A New Look, 1996.
Female Forcible Rape, Utah and U.S., 2002-2011
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: National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) through a collaborative agreement with the U.S. Census
Bureau.
The rape rate is reported as the number of rapes among Utah females per 100,000 population.
How We Calculated the Rates
Numerator:
Number of reported rapes among females in Utah.
Denominator:
Total female population of Utah.
Page Content Updated On 03/22/2013,
Published on 04/10/2013
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:
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Thu, 23 May 2013 10:26:01
from Utah Department of
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